Love Beyond All Fear
by NessieGG
Summary: Complete! Marine Heero Yuy, a US spy sent to Japan in WWII, had no idea what he was getting into when he went to a bar with Duo Maxwell. What he got was a bargirl named Relena Darlian and his need to help her.
1. New Princess

Gundam Girl: Wow, so this first chapter arrives. Originally, this fic was going to be joint-written by Maxine and myself. Max has other obligations, though, so it seems I'm going solo on this one.  
  
Lady Lye: Wonderful. . .  
  
Gundam Girl: *pouts* I'm sorry if this disappoints you. Maxine is really sorry she can't do this right now. I hope you still enjoy it as much as any of my or Max's other fics.  
  
Disclaimer: Heh, yeah. When I own it, I'll tell you, and I'll make a live- action version of GW fics, airing on Adult Swim!  
  
Love Beyond All Fear - Chapter One  
  
The air was damp and the smell of nicotine collided with cheap perfume. It made one gag, one grin, and force one to roll his eyes and turn on his heel.  
  
"Hell, no! You're not chickenin' out on me now, Heero," said Duo Maxwell, the United States' personal Death. "If you leave me and Trowa to get slaughtered, we'll come back and haunt you."  
  
Trowa Barton, usually silent, seized the opportunity to defend himself. "I'm sure I could think of better things to do in the afterlife than haunt Yuy with you."  
  
Duo grinned. "Sure." He set a hand on the handle of the door in front of him. Squeezing his buddy's shoulder, "Jazz me with some jibberish, paly," he let it swing open.  
  
Heero Yuy could only think of one thing to say when they stepped inside. "Baka," he said bitterly.  
  
"Now, now." Winking, he led his two stoic companions to a table. "I needed a guy who spoke the language of love."  
  
"French?" Trowa asked, an eyebrow raising.  
  
Duo shook his head. "Not here," he said happily. So saying, he motioned to a passing waitress clad in a camisole, stockings, and some piece of cloth that didn't really qualify as a skirt. "Three beers, sweetheart."  
  
"Hai."  
  
Heero glanced around humorlessly. The "restaurant" wasn't titled Fair View for nothing. With the not-so-decently dressed women serving plates of food and most likely themselves, he got a fair view of entirely too much skin.  
  
Or so the woman who'd run his orphanage would have insisted.  
  
Trowa felt the same as Heero. Not once in his life had he ever pictured himself in a place like this. He'd been to call houses before, naturally, and he'd seen hundreds of bars, but this place. . . It had some kind of stir in the smoke-engulfing air that seemed entirely to fatalistic for his liking. And rarely was he wrong.  
  
The waitress that Duo had called to returned with their drinks. Over the foam of his beer, Duo looked from her scalp to her ankles and smiled politely - or as polite as one could seem when giving off an expression completely animalistic.  
  
The woman was not offended, rather, she seemed quite pleased. "Anything to eat for you, gentlemen?" she asked, taking a pad and pencil. A soft German accent flavored her voice, and for a moment, Duo remembered what he was supposed to be doing in Japan in the first place. He pushed it away.  
  
"Nothing that's on the menu, babe," he murmured.  
  
She leaned forward to absently pluck at a few flyaway strands of Duo's braid. "Lovely hair you have there, sir." Her eyes skimmed over the other two for brief moments. "Anything for you two?" she questioned Heero and Trowa.  
  
Trowa gave her a negative look, Heero grunted.  
  
Duo pulled out a ten. "That's for the beer. I'll have a steak. . ." He touched a finger to her chin. "And hopefully some dessert after that."  
  
"The name's Hilde; remember that," the little waitress said. Leaning to his ear, she whispered, "Leave me a generous tip, my little American, and I'll be just as kind."  
  
"Christ, she knows who we are," muttered Duo as Hilde sauntered off. He couldn't resist a look at her rocking hips.  
  
"A woman like that doesn't care as long as she's paid. She has loyalties to none but herself," Trowa said over his glass. "How long do you expect to be here, Duo?"  
  
He shrugged. "Hour and thirty minutes, at most."  
  
Heero grunted once more. "It'll take that long?"  
  
Duo smiled knowingly. "I like to savor my meals." He sighed as his friends failed to reply. "Jeez, you two need to lighten up. Don't tell me you only came for the alcohol."  
  
"I'll have a whiskey before the night's through," Trowa confirmed. "And Heero didn't want to stay and have to listen to Wufei and that nurse - Sally's - racket. They fight nonstop, and then they make up."  
  
"I was a little disappointed that Quatre didn't come," said Duo. "But I guess I couldn't really imagine him somewhere like this. Or Heero, either." He grinned at the spy across from him who was still interested in his drink. "Tell me you'll at least have dessert," he pleaded.  
  
Heero grunted again.  
  
"You are hopeless!" exclaimed Duo, smacking a hand to his forehead. "That's it, if you won't buy something, I will."  
  
"Keep your money," Yuy ground out, "or use it on my beer."  
  
"There's heat in this li'l town, Heero!" protested Duo. "You're gonna be real cold if you don't get some of it."  
  
"I can take the cold," he assured and sipped from his mug again.  
  
***  
  
Again, Hilde wiped sweat from her forehead. She'd given that man with the braid four glances in the past ten minutes, one of which he'd caught, and each time it left her with a burning sensation. As she finished serving some potatoes to a team of hungry locals, she turned to a girl working the bar and arguing with a balding man who wore American sunglasses, showing he owed the business.  
  
"Can I have a word, Howard? With the newby?" asked Hilde.  
  
Howard, who had changed his name from a traditional Japanese one just three months ago, nodded. "Help her out, Hilde, for God's sake. She's still wet behind the ears."  
  
She nodded, and Howard moved away to tend to some already drunk customers requesting more wine. He was glad to provide for them.  
  
"Relena, what was that about?"  
  
The girl serving at the bar cast her eyes downward, dark lashes brushing her cheeks. Her European hair, swept over one shoulder, glowed in the fluorescent light of Fair View.  
  
"He was complaining," she murmured. "He said that I needed to go.." She paused, searching for a delicate way of stating it. "Display the merchandise," she finished.  
  
"Ah."  
  
"I've only been here two days!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Yeah, I need the money, but I'm just not ready."  
  
"With that attitude," said Hilde, "you'll never be ready. Sex isn't delicate, honey." When Relena grimaced, Schbeiker wished she'd been a bit softer. She liked Relena. Because of that, she wanted to toughen her up for the profession she would have for most likely the next few years.  
  
"Listen, I needed a favor," Hilde told her, and Relena nodded. Gesturing to the table where Heero, Duo, and Trowa's backs were, she smiled. "Do you think you can handle that table if I man the bar for awhile? The guy with all the hair has me booked for later. He wants a steak, medium rare."  
  
Puzzled but willing to help, Relena smiled kindly. "No problem." Lifting the pass-through, she went out of the bar. After returning from the kitchen, her sheer stocking-clad legs headed to table forty-three.  
  
"Medium rare steak," she said, her voice coming out huskily from practice. "Hilde will be back later," she promised the braided man with a wink. "Refills for you other gentlemen?" She turned up her eyes to look at Trowa, who smiled lightly and passed her his mug. When her eyes shifted to Heero, she paused, hand reaching for his glass as well.  
  
They were blue, like hers, only darker. Like a storm nearly finished, but waiting for the finale of lighting to be cued for the final act. Relena blinked. Where had that come from?  
  
Thankful for the dim lighting of the bar, she blushed and took his glass. What on Earth had just occurred? Was that a bit of infatuation for a Japanese man with American friends? How odd.  
  
Heero eyed Relena slowly as she bustled away to get him more beer. For a moment, he'd been almost hypnotized by the innocence in her face, among the other temptresses laughing and coaxing throughout the restaurant.  
  
Duo laughed and slapped his back. "Grand ole' time! How 'bout it, buddy? I'll pay fifty for you to just dance with that girl."  
  
"Don't insult me," he snarled, slightly disappointed that he didn't have his beer to hide behind.  
  
He only laughed again. "Or you, Trowa? I'm sure you'd have fun with that little blond."  
  
Trowa sat back, and Heero didn't notice his eyes had snapped to his until Trowa smiled once more. "Perhaps."  
  
"Don't even consider it."  
  
Interested, Trowa raised an eyebrow at Heero. "Will you?"  
  
Growling again, Heero fell silent. When Relena returned five minutes later with the refilled beers, he didn't look at her, and thankfully, she didn't glance at him. Just when Duo was set on speaking, she hurried away as quickly as she had come.  
  
"Well, she must be on a roll," Duo commented.  
  
"Or you frighten her," said Trowa, swigging from his drink.  
  
***  
  
Howard gritted his teeth together and turned to his queen man magnet. "Hilde, we're not making what we should be."  
  
Hilde sighed, knowing what was coming.  
  
"Fashion show," he said simply, and moved away to elsewhere.  
  
Hilde cursed under her breath, and went about the task of starting a whispered chain for the news. That done, she stood on the bar and called out.  
  
"Gentlemen!" she yelled with practiced enthusiasm. "For your entertainment, we have a presentation tonight." Ignoring the oafs slapping at her ankles, she went on, "Each girl here will show a little bit of skin. You decide what it is they present, and they throw off what they need to. One who calls out first also gets the girl fifty percent off for one night only."  
  
There was a riot. Those who had come enough to see this spectacular several times hooted and lifted their mugs.  
  
Relena had heard about these "fashion shows" but had not yet participated in them since she'd been employed. Feeling embarrassed and annoyed, she lined up on the bar-strip with six other girls.  
  
Howard, emcee and owner, stood on a chair off to the side. "You know the rules!" he shouted. "One call per man. And let's have some variety here, men." Grinning, he turned to the first girl. "Dorothy!"  
  
The calls for a bare back was made, and the woman gifted with strange eyebrows turned away from them and lifted her shirt high. There were drunken catcalls.  
  
Duo muttered to himself, his American heart straining. "Didn't know they do things like that here."  
  
"Perverted and often-drunk men think women can't be beautiful unless they're naked and under them," Trowa said distantly, turning away from the girls.  
  
Heero didn't speak. He watched as one-by-one, the girls lifted of tossed aside whatever they needed to show what was wanted.  
  
Something in him burst as Hilde, their waitress and the second to last one, rolled her stockings enough to show when her legs met her hips and smoothed down to her toes. And then-  
  
"Relena!" called Howard.  
  
Relena, whose cheeks were red, lifted one hand, preparing herself.  
  
"Shoulders!" Heero heard himself calling.  
  
Relena paused. There were groans of disappointment. Howard even seemed puzzled at the not-too-indecent request.  
  
Obligingly, Relena pushed the sleeves of her shirt off her arms and swiveled, showing off the skin curving from her neck.  
  
Heero's chest heaved as though he'd just ran a mile. There had definitely been effort putting into the shout for the girl, Relena, to bare her shoulders to the ravenous-looking men at the bar.  
  
Trowa and Duo turned to look at him as the girls came down from the bar and scattered to promise the men who had earned them an eleven o' clock appointment.  
  
"Where'd that come from?" asked Duo, disbelievingly.  
  
"I.." Heero shook his head. "I don't have a damn clue."  
  
Trowa smirked and drained his glass swiftly. "That was nice of you, Heero?"  
  
He blinked. "What?"  
  
"To offer Relena a job."  
  
He froze. The rules to the game went 'if you shout, you get the girl for a lower price.' He groaned. That girl..Relena.  
  
Howard, leading Relena by the waist, came to Heero with a broad grin on his face. "Congratulations, Sergeant Yuy."  
  
Suspicous, he paused. "You know my name."  
  
"Sergeant and spy for the U.S., yes, I know." Howard's yellow teeth flashed. "You should feel very fortunate. Winning Relena is quite the deal, and a special treat for you, as she was very expensive without the fashion show."  
  
"Why's that?" asked Duo because he knew his friend wouldn't. Relena stayed silent behind Howard.  
  
"If you've been to places like this before," he said casually, "you'll know virgins are very rare at places like this."  
  
Trowa efficiently tuned out. Heero felt stupid and risked a glance at Relena, who was staring at the floor, blushing.  
  
"How much?" Duo questioned. "I'm paying."  
  
"A hundred," Howard replied.  
  
"That's no different!"  
  
"She was two hundred, Duo-sama," Howard informed briskly. "I could change that price if I needed to. The money goes to her anyway."  
  
Duo out pulled some bills and gave them to Heero, but Yuy didn't make a further move. "Come on," he said at last. "Dance with her."  
  
"It's a free dance, Mr. Yuy," Howard assured him as a saxophone swung neatly into a ballad.  
  
Because Relena knew it would please her boss, she stepped forward and took this Heero's hand. "One dance won't hurt," she said, allowing a smile to spread her lips.  
  
Heero saw through the expression. Afraid, he thought. She was afraid. Slowly, he slid his chair back, stood, and let her lead him to the dance area of the bar.  
  
She was nervous, this being her first time actually seducing anyone. Wasn't it just her luck that she'd gotten a guy who was seemingly mute and dangerous-looking? Carefully, she slid her arms from Heero's side, around his neck, and pulled herself up to him, like Hilde had advised.  
  
Duo grinned from the table as he watched Relena slither up Heero's chest. "She's good," he commented.  
  
Trowa shrugged. "I've had better."  
  
"You know, I don't think I really want to know about that. Ah, Hilde!"  
  
"You have me only until eight-thirty," she warned him, a coy smile playing on his lips. "A half-hour, Mr. Maxwell."  
  
"That's my cue." He stood up. "I'll see you later, buddy." Waving to Trowa, he quickly followed Hilde to the back of the room and up a case of stairs.  
  
Trowa glanced from the stairs to Heero and Relena, considering. Deciding it wouldn't be a problem, he pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his back pocket and started his crossword puzzle.  
  
***  
  
She was beautiful, as he'd noticed before. He'd been called blind to attractiveness before, and deaf to compliments as well, but he was no moron, and he realized that the girl currently clinging to his waist was afraid of him. Yes, she seemed brave, running her hands across his broad chest in ways that had his blood scrambling through his veins to his heart, - and other places - but behind all of the boldness was a sensitivity that he knew he had to be careful with.  
  
Why? He wished to God he knew. Relena was a bar girl, offering a lot, but not everything. And though he'd never been completely devoted to the concept of love, he didn't doubt it existed. Hearing Sally talk about Wufei while they had worked together at the Osaka base and then seeing them together had proven that.  
  
When she spoke, he blinked. "What did you say?"  
  
Relena's heart beat a little faster; it had taken enough courage to say it the first time. "I asked if you wanted to go upstairs."  
  
Heero hesitated, then looked toward the stairs a couple yards away. Feeling his pulse rage with adrenaline and, he admitted with some shame, undeniable lust, he nodded.  
  
Relena's fingers danced down his arm to link with Heero's. "A half-hour then, Mr. Yuy."  
  
They started up the staircase.  
  
********************  
  
Gundam Girl: Right. . . So, it seems I've left you all at a cliffhanger. I've been doing a lot of fic work lately, but God knows how fast these chapter will get out. *looks at pile of projects and sighs. She shouldn't really be doing this.* I hope you guys liked this. Please hold it in your heart to review. Ja matta ne! 


	2. A Filthy Room

Gundam Girl: Yes, well, I'm back. I took a brief absence after updating "Behind Darkness' Mask" but only because I'm reading Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. It has nothing to do with you guys, I swear. . .  
  
AnimeChick: Drop the book, wench! You're supposed to be WRITING!  
  
GG: -_- It's not fair. *whimpers* Ah well, I have my excuses out. My complete ideal for this fic WILL contain a lemon later on, but this lemon will be posted elsewhere, at Blissful Ignorance. However, this has been moved up to "R" for lime. As soon as the chapter that contains the lemon comes out, I will post a link to the actual thing on my bio at Fanfiction.Net. Thanks for reading, all, and enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: You know the drill. *siren whoops across ML, Blissful Ignorance and FFNet* Ah, bad joke!  
  
Warnings: Adult situations, emotional issues, some swearing, and Trowa shooting women down. I fear I've not done a great job of in-character-dom, but I'm trying. This IS Alternate Universe, people.  
  
*~Love Beyond All Fear~* Chapter Two  
  
Hilde was panting a little by the time she and Mr. Maxwell had reached the room Howard had assigned her. Who's fucking idea was it to have the girls wear stockings, garter belts, and ridiculously tall shoes when climbing the stairs?  
  
Howard's, she thought with a sigh. She needed to suggest a change in uniform. Regaining her composure before turning, she spun on her heel and shot her client a positively cat-like smirk.  
  
"Are you thirsty, Mr. Maxwell?"  
  
Duo grinned. Kind of an odd question to ask, really, when he'd just drank two beers. "Not really, thanks." His eyes bulged as soon as the words were out. Goddamn it, Maxwell! he thought furiously. That is NOT what she meant.  
  
Hilde's smile had flickered with doubt before returning full force with amusement. Not the cleverest one, was he? Well, she had had men stupider than this one, and twice as worse looking. If she could take men like that to bed, this one would be a cinch. He, at least, acted manly in the situation.  
  
"Don't think, Mr. Maxwell," she advised. She took her time in stepping closer, allowing her long legs to stretch to their fullest. "When you try to think while you are occupied," her lips were centimeters from his, and a gaze practiced in front of a mirror darkened, "things tend to get. . .unfocused."  
  
He nodded slightly as her fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, undoing them slowly.  
  
"And forgotten."  
  
Duo couldn't well remember his own name while her nails raked along the coarse flesh of his chest.  
  
"And, most all, when you struggle to think once more. . ." Hilde let his shirt drop. Strands of her own short hair brushed his cheek as she kissed him with the barest touching of lips. Her hands moved to his belt buckle. Her lips curved.  
  
"You feel achingly hot."  
  
Something in Duo snapped, and his arms went about her waist as his lips pressed to her neck, taking in some of the skin there and suckling. Hilde threw her head back to let him have better access to her neck while she reached for the strings holding that strip of cloth to her bosom.  
  
"So do not think, Mr. Maxwell."  
  
The cloth fell to the floor.  
  
***  
  
The room Relena was to bring Heero to was on the same floor as Hilde's, but this room was worse than hers.  
  
Heero peered inside, his gaze stony, his hand still in the bargirl's. It looked like something of a castle dungeon. Though it appeared to have been hastily neatened, with the sheets of the queen bed in the middle of the floor cleaned and the room dusted, the flickering glow of candlelight cast shadows and a general feeling of unease throughout the room. And ladled over the smells of mind-hazing perfumes, the scent of sin and sex was strong.  
  
Feeling slightly intoxicated, Heero let Relena lead him inside and shut the door. She seemed to be taking in the sights of this "bedroom" as well. It occurred to him that she may have never seen it before, if she hadn't taken up a customer yet.  
  
There was a cobweb in a ceiling corner. He spotted it as the light passed to the right. Why was it so filthy in here?  
  
"Call girls don't have much need for extravagance," she said as though in explanation. "Don't be stunned by a bit of dirt."  
  
His head was starting to swim as he watched her pulled down the covers of the bed. She was moving fast, she wanted to get it over with. Heero felt a pull at his pants and decided that it was his physical self and not his mental self controlling his actions.  
  
Although that slip of leather fit nicely over her bottom. . .  
  
Heero shook his head. "Are you certain?" he blurted stonily, no uncertainty carried in his voice.  
  
Relena looked over her shoulder, blonde hair cascading down her back. "What I am certain of, Mr. Yuy, is that when I make love to you, you will not know your name."  
  
It was a line she had borrowed from a girl named Sylvia Noventa, and it seemed to have worked. Heero's gaze had gone expressionless and he might've been easily manipulated with an empty head.  
  
Now if her damn hands would stop trembling. . .  
  
Relena let an extra sway grace her hips as she approached him. "Are you. . .worried, Mr. Yuy? Of what you will feel after this?"  
  
Heero fists went rock hard. He was struggling for breath, as the world seemed to have replaced oxygen with Relena's perfume.  
  
One stocking-clad leg wound its way around his annoyingly clothed calf and she propped her body neatly against his.  
  
"You are at Fair View," the "virgin" said, a smirk tipping her lips. "You've come for this, have you not?"  
  
He wanted to tell her no, he wanted to say that his friend's insistence was the only reason he was looking at her now. But with her small body wrapped around his, she looking only semi-willing to give him whatever he wanted, he couldn't say anything.  
  
When her cool fingers went to his neck, eyes that he hadn't realized he'd closed opened to meet aquamarine. Semi-consciously, he felt his lips meet the warmth of hers.  
  
The storm Relena had seen in his eyes earlier was raging now. She'd seen a streak of lightning cross his irises just before he'd shut them in his thoughts. When he'd opened them again to look at her, a hurricane swirled.  
  
Now she knew what Dorothy had meant when she'd said to "ride the storm." Relena thanked the poor lighting as a pink hue tinted her cheeks. But his entire body was completely taught, and he had yet to lay a finger on her.  
  
She couldn't help being a little frustrated. How was she to know if she was doing her job right? Was she the cold fish, or was it him? She let her eyelids droop half-shut. If she kissed him. . .  
  
Success, she thought when he seemed to return the lip-lock with equal force. A second thought struck her just as hard.  
  
It was possible he didn't want her. And that would mean no money. But then why had he called out during the fashion show?  
  
"Mr. Yuy," she began but in a flash, his arms came around her, encircling her and lifting her completely off the ground. She managed to unbutton his shirt and shove it off his shoulders before he laid her down on the bed.  
  
Heero's lips brushed over Relena's throat, and the girl felt her heart rate increase, keeping time with the confusion in her head.  
  
"Mr. Yuy," she said breathlessly. Her chest was heaving against his mouth. "What are you doing?"  
  
A trickle of hesitance dripped down Heero's spine. "Do you want to be here?"  
  
Relena closed her eyes; for a moment, a shocking moment, she saw things she had hoped she'd buried. She tensed. Those things would not be resurrected.  
  
When her eyes reopened, Heero was frowning at her, but she smiled coyly. "I think the question is 'do you want to be here'."  
  
Heero seemed to lose all control when she uttered those words, and with no hesitance, he let her take him wherever she wanted him to be.  
  
***  
  
"Will you be wanting some coffee, sir?"  
  
Trowa, who had replaced his crossword with a Japanese newspaper, glanced up at a French woman holding a pitcher of what was probably the steaming coffee. After a brief scrutinize, he looked back to the newspaper. "That would be fine, thank you."  
  
"I'm Ginger, by the way. You're still waiting for your friends?" The redheaded Frenchwoman laughed. "Sweetheart, I can make the time FLY for you, if you wish to pay for it."  
  
"Not right now at the moment. Perhaps later."  
  
Ginger frowned; the fashion girls only had thirty minutes left. "Never put things off, I say."  
  
"Unless I have no money."  
  
"But how are you paying for your drinks?"  
  
Trowa looked up again. Though she couldn't see it through his expressionless gaze, Ginger was beginning to annoy him. "Though it is not your business, you may put all charges on Duo Maxwell's bill."  
  
Ginger huffed, offended, and drew up to her full height. "Very well, sir." She slammed the pitcher on the table. "Certainly have a good evening."  
  
Trowa shot her a quiet half-smile. "I certainly will, thank you." And he went back to the paper once more.  
  
Boiling, Ginger stomped away, cursing her stockings. Damn him anyway, she thought to herself. No-good American.  
  
She allowed her eyes to roam back to the brown-haired man, now gracefully sipping from a coffee cup.  
  
Damn him for being so handsome.  
  
**************************************************************  
  
Gundam Girl: I do apologize for this chapter being shorter than one, but I'm afraid it was necessary, and I decided to cut it down for a sooner update. I trust that something small is better than nothing. To make up for it, however, I promise chapter three will be extremely worthwhile. Please review! 


	3. So, Would You Like?

Gundam Girl: Hey, I'm back! Didn't take as long as I thought it would, thankfully. This story is a promising one, I can tell you, guys. This chapter's a doozy. Thanks to everybody who's reviewed this one, and I hope you enjoy three.  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own these guys. Except Heero (who may be a bit OOC in this chap, sorry! I tried!)  
  
Wufei: Quit lying to yourself, woman.  
  
*sigh* Oh, fine then. I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters. They belong to them and theirs.  
  
Wufei: Better.  
  
*~Love Beyond All Fear~* Chapter Three  
  
Howard checked at his fake Rolex impatiently. With twenty minutes left, the fashion show girls had better hurry. Whether they collected well for themselves or not wasn't his problem. Whether the buyers came back downstairs to either buy another round of drinks or his call girls was.  
  
He hoped Relena had a knack for persuasion. That sergeant didn't look like the most promising of customers, and Relena was a beginner at the art of seduction. Hilde. . . Well, he didn't need to worry about Hilde. Not with the way that braided American had been looking at her.  
  
He poured a glass of cheap vodka he'd naturally overpriced for an already stark drunk local who was currently raving about Dorothy, whom he had paid for the night before last. The man could use at least five more rounds - if the bar owner could get that many into the customer before he passed out.  
  
Howard sighed, checked his watch again. Fifteen minutes.  
  
***  
  
Duo rolled off Hilde to lay on the bed next to her. "You're something else," he muttered with closed eyes.  
  
Hilde chuckled, and ran a nail across his sculpted, bare stomach. "We've fifteen minutes more."  
  
"Eh. . ." Damn, but she was a hot one.  
  
"Tired, Mr. Maxwell?"  
  
Duo passed a hand over his eyes. Blood still roaring, he tried to pull a Wufei for a moment and analyze the situation. There was a slim, willing, and, most importantly, naked brunette running over fingers over his skin. With certain male attributes begging for an encore of her previous performance, he sat up.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked finally.  
  
Hilde smiled slyly. "A dream come true?" she suggested. "That's what I'm told."  
  
Duo's braid swung as he shook his head. She didn't know how close she'd been to hitting the dot. He turned back to see her stretch her long, tanned arms above her head as white moonlight filtered over her, giving her skin an ethereal glow. "I'd like to tell you the same?"  
  
"You won't?" she asked coyly. "Shame." Her eyes traveled the length of his body in appreciation as he stood and reached for his disposed trousers. "Are all American men so closed, Mr. Maxwell?"  
  
Duo chuckled lightly, lowly. "You'd be one of the first to call me a closed person, Hilde."  
  
Her grin came quick. "From what I saw downstairs, I suppose that's true. Who said so before me?"  
  
"A priest - a religious minister for a group of people called Roman Catholics," he explained when a shadow of confusion crossed her face. "He raised me. I never said much to him, which might sound ridiculous." If Wufei ever heard that bit of remembrance, he would insist that he be treated the same way.  
  
Hilde drummed her fingers on the pillow where his head had lain as he tugged on his shirt. "Mr. Maxwell, are you sure you don't want to-"  
  
"Duo. And no, thanks. I've. . ." His eyes narrowed, and he was glad his back was to her. He'd had enough emotional confusion for one night. "I've decided to turn in."  
  
"Too bad it's against the rules for the men to stay the night," Hilde murmured, unable to deny that sleeping against the warmth that his chest had provided would have been heavenly. She knew a good man when she saw one, and that American, well. . . He was a very good man.  
  
Duo turned his head to shoot her a wide grin. "It'd save me a walk, wouldn't it?"  
  
Hilde tilted her head back. The action caused her eyes to be concealed by a shadow the moon had failed to destroy. "It wouldn't save you a buck."  
  
He laughed again, this time with humor. "Probably better that way. I owe you fifty, don't I?"  
  
"Discounted price," she nodded. She slid off the bed and grabbed for a coarse robe that had been tossed into the room earlier. "If it's all the same to you, Mr. . . .Duo. . .I'll just go with you."  
  
Duo's eyes flew to hers. "With me?" He truly was an idiot. Though logic sang in his brain that she was not referring to going away, the idea fiddled with his senses. Hilde, go with him? Out of Japan?  
  
Hilde blinked. "Yes, with you. Downstairs."  
  
"Ah - oh." Logic's tune won the battle against wishful thinking. He closed his eyes as she headed to the door. Such a victory would be short- lived as long as his common sense had been killed in the scurry. "Wait."  
  
Hilde turned, sharp blue eyes questioning. "Did you change your mind?"  
  
"Yes. Er, no - not about that."  
  
She folded her arms. "Anything different would be another bill, Duo."  
  
And he had a feeling that Howard would not make it a cheap one. Yet. . .  
  
"Do you really like living here?" he asked. "Whoring yourself?"  
  
The use of the verb might have stung if she hadn't been called that and worse for the last two years. "Honestly?"  
  
"I'm Catholic, Hilde."  
  
Hilde studied him. His big violet eyes dug into her own, seemingly her very soul, and in that moment, a great mass of feeling lurched from her stomach. . .or did it come from her chest?  
  
"I hate it here," she affirmed. "My parents came here from Germany when I was a child. They both got sick and died almost two years ago now, and since then, I've had to. . ." She unconsciously pulled the robe tighter to her unclothed body. "No," she restarted. "No, I don't like it here."  
  
Duo smiled then, and the ice that had slid down her spine melted as a warmth enveloped her in its place. The words he said next were very steady as he held out a hand to help her down the stairs:  
  
"Will you leave with me then?"  
  
Hilde stared; not just from his eyes, but from his smile came an overwhelming feeling of welcome. Before fear could capture her, she lifted her own hand and slid it into his.  
  
***  
  
When Relena woke, she was staring at the wall. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, and the stained, white sheet covered her up to her shoulders. Faintly, she remembered doing what she had been hired to do, and collapsing into sleep almost immediately afterwards.  
  
Her gaze shifted, and she saw Heero Yuy standing, dressed, with his hand on the doorknob.  
  
A stiff sound came from her throat, and Heero looked back. The doorknob snapped back from its half-turned position.  
  
"You're awake," he noted. Indeed, she was sitting up, her golden hair falling in loose ringlets around to her chest, kept covered by only that thin sheet.  
  
Relena nodded, staring at him. His hair was messier than it had been, if that were possible, and her pulse leapt with the way he looked at her.  
  
He wanted her again. It was clear and easy to figure out. Much of his feelings were a mystery still to himself, but lust was a very simple equation. As he stopped two and two from making four, he motioned to the small candle-bearing table beside the door and the yen he'd left there. "That's yours. All of it." And the extra he had thrown in. He had decided as she'd slept that he wouldn't make Duo pay for something that he'd freely enjoyed without even trying to. And he would gladly give her the money she wanted. . .in the moment she had offered him herself, he would have given her anything.  
  
"Keep it," she said softly, and up went his eyebrows.  
  
"Why?" he inquired gruffly. Duo had said she'd want payment. But Relena's arms closed around herself.  
  
"I. . . I don't want it," she told him. Truthfully, she couldn't figure out why she wanted him to keep his money any more than he could. Was it because she had seen people starve on the streets of Japan? Because she could perhaps save one person from that fate?  
  
"What's the matter with you? You have no money of your own. You need this."  
  
"Not any more or less than you do."  
  
That was a lie. The army was providing. . . But she wouldn't know that. And he didn't see the point in jeopardizing his incognito mission by telling her more than she needed to understand. And she needed to understand nothing.  
  
"And. . .I don't deserve it," she said at length. Relena shook her hair back from her shoulders. "Not that much, anyway. I didn't do well. I haven't ever. . ."  
  
He hadn't bought the lie from the beginning, and Heero wasn't the person who'd buy it now. "You don't need to sham me. I don't care about this money anyway."  
  
He was probably a rich landowner who had converted to using Western customs and hadn't put up the largest fight against being dragged to a call house. Argument with the wife, perhaps. No doubt he had the prettiest Japanese maiden in the country. . .and the prettiest maids.  
  
"I'm not trying to trick you. Onegai," she began when he turned away again. "Take it from me."  
  
Heero regarded her like a student would his teacher; trying to show he didn't care what was said, like the other boys and girls, and secretly paying attention to every word. He hadn't gone to school, but that was how Quatre had described it. "Well, you can't surely be a virgin. You were. . ." Too wonderful.  
  
"But why would I lie?"  
  
"All women lie!" he accused, and she turned her head. "They just want to get outta Japan before the real fighting starts. Before the government starts to track us."  
  
He realized his slip-up too late. Relena blinked at him, orbs of clear blue covered and uncovered. She watched him as though she was watching a picture, which was extremely rare for any woman, but especially rare for her.  
  
"You're an American soldier? But you're Japanese."  
  
He shifted his weight to the other foot. "Japanese people don't give you blue eyes."  
  
Relena stood up and lifted a robe similar to Hilde's, and slid it on, her back facing Heero. Though Yuy swallowed, her intent was not to seduce, but to hide her face from him for a moment. She hadn't thought of it at first; she'd seen too many blue-eyed Japanese children in this depth of hell. There were Europeans of all kind here, herself included. Most of the women worked in brothels, and so Heero was right to think all of them liars. But Relena had given up that dream too long ago.  
  
"Well, I'm not a liar," she told him sharply, tying her robe with more force than what was necessary. "I don't deserve to be called one, Mr. Yuy."  
  
Heero's shoulders sagged the tiniest bit as she turned back and scowled at him. As much as he wanted to believe she was just another deceiving broad trying to catch the first plane out of the country, her eyes shone with the same clarity that her heart, which he had felt the beat of, possessed. "How do I know you're not some good actress?" he asked nonetheless, trying his best to keep his voice as deadly as possible. He still hadn't picked up the money.  
  
Relena continued to look darkly at him. "Do you need another story of a poor wench?"  
  
He shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head back. "One more won't hurt."  
  
She took a very deep breath, and the lines of her jaw were straight as a tree. "I lived in the French countryside, Mr. Yuy, with my parents and my brother. We came here to sell valuables - lamps and such. My father was a wealthy and successful man. But a stray bomb during one of Japan's tests in the middle of last November landed on the land we owned. I was in the market, and when I ran through the fields, I found my parents and Milliardo. They were faceless corpses in my half-burnt house. I sold everything that wasn't damaged. I wasn't learning Father's trade like Milliardo was, so I couldn't continue the business. So I came to work here." Eyes used to showing distrust softened a bit. "I'm just trying to survive, Mr. Yuy. There are some things people don't ever lie about."  
  
Heero's brows were still lowered. He'd seen death numerous times and because of that, he'd seen a part of her die as she told him the story. "Will you be here tonight?" he asked on impulse.  
  
She blinked again, and all of her anger ebbed away. "Yes. But I'll be at the club." Her eyes lowered to the rumpled bed. "Selling-"  
  
"No, you won't." The first thing that came out of his mouth felt like the most natural thing in the world. His pulse hammered and thoughts raced through his head. He could get court-marshaled for this; he could get turned on by all of America and the people he dared to call friends. And somehow, it felt like it would be worth it.  
  
Relena was still staring at him, a small smile on her face. And he wondered if anything, whether it be fake or real, would ever be as beautiful. "Would you come with me?"  
  
Even when the smile fell, Heero had never known a clearer thought.  
  
And he waited.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
MWAHAHAHAHA! CLIFFHANGAR! Woot!  
  
*FFN, GW_Heero_and_Relena, BI, and Love_Reflection stares in horror.*  
  
I didn't mean to cliffhang again, but I had to, again, cut down the chapter. I feel so mean. But please review! Reviews fuel me and I REALLY need some fuel! Thanks so much!  
  
-GG 


	4. Yes, I Would Like

GG: I have some upsetting news.  
  
Well, it upsets me more than it will you.  
  
I'm really glad you guys mentioned that this fic was a lot like "Miss Saigon." Because that was the idea. And I realize now that the notes I put about that in chapter one are GONE because certain jerks around here don't like me writing fan fiction, and so they hacked my system and deleted that part for a laugh.  
  
Giggles. (Note the sarcasm.)  
  
So, thank you, SporkGoddess and Melissa, for inspiring me to check just what was/wasn't on chapter one. Lookee, I've matched the chapter titles to the lyrics! ^_^  
  
Also, the clarify: This is heavily fictional and probably not politically correct. A lot of "what if" going on. Hope that doesn't bother you.  
  
Notes: This fic was inspired by the musical, "Miss Saigon," which belongs to Alain Boublil and Claude Schonberg. It is a beautiful play and if you get the chance to see it, go!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Miss Saigon. Obviously.  
  
*~Love Beyond All Fear~* Chapter Four  
  
He held her as she sobbed. Jesus, it had not been Heero's intention to make her cry. The shock of his question on her face had somehow resulted in a murmured "yes" before she'd broken down into fitful tears. Relena was in his arms now, gasping into his shoulder.  
  
"Gomen nasai," she said with an accent that was more European than Asian. "I know I shouldn't be doing this. I'm happy, really, it's like you're a – a savior."  
  
"Hold on," he began but she cut him off with a fast, chaste kiss.  
  
"I don't really know how to thank you. Well, I do, but do American men accept that as payment?" Relena asked.  
  
Oh, she was so innocent was all he could think. Even in a place like Fair View, even in the slums of Japan, she was so pristine.  
  
He would get her out of here, he thought determinedly. She didn't deserve to be forced to stay.  
  
"Unfortunately," he replied to her question, "it's often the only thing American men accept as payment."  
  
Color washed her cheeks, and she backed away from him to wipe the tears from them. "You are like the phoenix the gods send to devoted servants, Heero. And I have prayed so hard."  
  
"I'm no phoenix," he told her abruptly. "And I don't know how yours gods work." Hell, at the moment, he didn't even know how he worked. Three hours ago, he'd have never considered taking a whore home with him. "Take me to Howard," he said.  
  
She nodded. "He isn't," she blurted and stopped herself.  
  
Heero blinked. "What?"  
  
"He isn't a fair man. I can't just walk out," she told him softly. "You'll have to pay. He'd contact the government if he felt it profitable."  
  
In a quick sweep of his hand, Heero took up the money from the dresser again. "Then I'll pay."  
  
"It won't be a small cost."  
  
"I don't imagine it to be."  
  
Relena's throat closed up as she scrambled out of bed and into a scratchy robe. "Why?!" she demanded. "Why the hell would you take me with you? It's outside your rules, isn't it?"  
  
Heero opened the door and turned back to her. "That's the good thing about America," he said. His voice was full of gruff sincerity as he met her eyes. "When it comes to emotion, there are no rules." He walked out, knowing she'd follow.  
  
Barefoot, Relena chased after him. Her heart thudded in time with each step she took down the stairs.  
  
Howard was already occupied with Duo and Hilde. Duo's mouth was a straight line. Hilde looked calm, but her brow was moist.  
  
When Howard's own frown saw Heero and Relena, he scowled behind his sunglasses upon recognizing their expressions. "Damn it all, not you too. Does the term 'rental' mean anything to you?"  
  
Duo shot his comrade a surprised look. "Heero?"  
  
"Are you doing what it seems you're doing, Duo?" he asked tonelessly.  
  
Duo snickered. "Never took you for a softie."  
  
Relena and Hilde exchanged identical looks:  
  
They were getting out. They were going to America.  
  
***  
  
"Are you two insane?!"  
  
Wufei Chang's mild accusation was not the warmest of welcomes when Duo, Heero and Trowa returned to the hotel with Relena and Hilde.  
  
"What the hell are they doing here?" Wufei demanded, pointing a resentful finger at the pair of Tokyo bar girls. "Do you have any idea what kind of jeopardy you're putting our—"  
  
"Wufei," Duo snarled, "if you say 'mission,' I will fucking strangle you with my braid."  
  
Wufei only snorted and then whirled on Heero. "Maxwell I can understand. He adores women; always has. You? Since when in God's name did you start letting them slide up to you?"  
  
Heero remembered Relena's eyes as she had offered to refresh their drinks and merely glared at the Chinese American. "She doesn't slide," he said defensively, with an arm around Relena's waist.  
  
"What's she do then?" Wufei's eyes flashed. "Sashay?"  
  
"Easy." Quatre Raberba Winner's voice, although usually soft and pleasant, was now firm. "Heero, Duo. I think we deserve an explanation. But first," he said, turning a suddenly cheery smile on the girls. "What are your names?"  
  
Relena blushed for the hundredth time that night. "Relena," she said timidly.  
  
Hilde, the least shy person she knew, grinned. "Hilde. What's yours, handsome?" she asked, succumbing to behavior that had become second nature.  
  
Quatre's smile turned oddly sympathetic. "Quatre Winner. Why don't you two take Heero and Duo's room? You both look tired."  
  
Hilde gratefully headed toward the room that she imagined would be heaven to sleep in, but Relena held back.  
  
"I don't know if..." The golden-haired girl's eyes darted to Heero.  
  
"We'll all be here in the morning," Quatre assured her.  
  
She hesitated for only another second before following Hilde path and closing the door behind her, but Heero couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She could never fully trust, could she?  
  
Wufei's sneer was condescending. "I thought you would be an honest man, Yuy. Picking them up from the ground. How disappointing."  
  
"Hey, shut the hell up, Wufei!" exclaimed Duo, bunching a fist and willing it to stay at his side rather than the other man's jaw. "A lot of those ladies in there are classier than the chicks back home."  
  
"And what about those at home, Maxwell?" Wufei's voice was hard as ice and just as cold. "Don't tell me there isn't anyone waiting for you."  
  
"Actually, there is. A thirty-nine year-old nun named Amelia. Satisfied?" Duo shot out.  
  
"Hardly. What the fuck," the Chinese soldier spat out, "are they doing here?!"  
  
"That's the second time you've asked that," Duo pointed out.  
  
"And exactly twice less have I received an answer."  
  
Trowa suddenly spoke up from the wall he leaned against, his voice as quiet as ever. "Where's Sally, Wufei?"  
  
Wufei paused and gave him a very steely look. "You've nothing to answer to, Barton. You should just—" At Trowa's narrowed eyebrows, his irises flashed. "She's asleep."  
  
"Where, asleep?"  
  
"She's in bed." Wufei growled when Trowa pushed off from the wall and headed toward his and Quatre's room.  
  
"I just don't see why you're complaining." Trowa stepped out of the hallway. "That's all."  
  
"We have a mission—"  
  
The door snapped shut in his face.  
  
Wufei wasn't out of targets yet, and he whirled on the still silent one. "Well, Yuy? Do you have anything to say?"  
  
"Wufei," Quatre insisted, "don't be so loud."  
  
Wufei kept his glare trained on Heero, who glared back, but at least he fell silent.  
  
Heero replied, in a decidedly softer voice: "You didn't see her eyes."  
  
"Eyes? What the fuck are you talking about?"  
  
"We're in the slums, Wufei," answered Quatre lightly. "Have you even really looked into anyone's eyes?"  
  
He was an American. He may have inherited the look of an Asian from parents that had escaped and immigrated, but he was still a son of Uncle Sam.  
  
And so he was better?  
  
"No," he affirmed, disgusted with himself. There was pride in his voice, but also there was shame.  
  
Quatre nodded. "Is that really it, Heero?"  
  
"Quatre, man, these girls have had it so rough." Duo shook his head vigorously and his brain swung back and forth. "Hilde'd been at that brothel for I don't know how long, and Relena, Jesus Christ, she was a virgin!"  
  
"Was," Wufei noted.  
  
Heero's fists clenched. "We...except for Trowa...made use of their occupations."  
  
"If it counts," Duo said in response to Wufei's annoyed harrumph, "Heero put up quite a fight." He grinned slightly. "But one look from those big blue eyes and he fell hard as hell."  
  
"I don't love her," Heero said. "I don't really know her."  
  
//Do you need another story of a poor wench?//  
  
But that wasn't true, he thought. Relena had told him all that there was to her and though that wasn't much, she had told *him*. She's privileged him with that.  
  
"We're obligated to help people," Heero said at last. "These women, Wufei. They need our help."  
  
Wufei studied that half-Japanese man for a minute or so, then turned away with a grunt. "Do what you want."  
  
Duo grinned at Heero. Heero remained grim.  
  
"But remember." With his hand on the doorknob of his and Sally's room, Wufei met first Heero's eyes, then Duo's. "What becomes of this is no one's fault but your own.  
  
***  
  
"I'm broke. All that I brought with me is totally spent," Duo was telling Heero while Hilde and Relena continued to sleep in the beds contained in the tiny hotel room. It was nearing eight, and Quatre had gone to see what kind of food was available for the morning. Even half-rotted fruit was better than nothing.  
  
Duo shoved his hands into his pockets. "That Howard sure was no cheapskate. It's fucking horrible, the way they think of women as property here."  
  
"It's the same way back home in some places," Heero pointed out, already fishing through his wallet.  
  
"No kidding, and we live in New York and all. Thanks so much, man," Duo said when Heero handed him a few crumpled bills. "I'll pay you back as soon as we're home."  
  
Heero grunted noncommittally.  
  
"Hey, by the way. When we do get home, what are you kids gonna do? I'm planning for me and Hilde to stay in the city. Hopefully she can get a job, and I'll go back to the auto shop on tenth street... Heero?" Duo scratched his cheek when he realized his words were lost on his friend's ears when Heero's eyes could look at Relena's sleeping form.  
  
But apparently Heero had been listening. "I haven't figured out what we'll do yet. I won't just drop her off to change streets."  
  
"Good for you. Althought, you gotta admit." Turning his gaze to the small window on the far wall of the room. "Even New York's red-light district isn't this bad. Men pay a helluva lot better there."  
  
"...Duo?" Hilde passed a hand through her short hair as she sat up and blinked sleepily at the pair of men. "Sorry, did I oversleep?"  
  
Duo smiled, touched at the image of her rumpled and freshly woken. "No, babe. Are you hungry? We can go see what kinda grub Quat-man managed to scrape up. I can't promise it'll be gourmet, but—"  
  
"I bet it's great," Hilde cut in unabashedly. The idea of an actual full meal had her squirming out of bed.  
  
"We'll see you downstairs," Duo told Heero, taking Hilde's hand and leading her out of the room, but not before a quick snicker: "Wonder if Wufei and Sally are even outta the bedroom yet."  
  
Heero sat down on the edge of his and Relena's bed and gently pushed her shoulder. "Relena," he murmured, taking care in waking her. He wasn't sure when the last time she had gotten a good rest was. "Relena, do you want breakfast?"  
  
Relena didn't know how good her acting qualities were, but she made a show of being shaken awake. The truth was she'd been laying fully conscious, listening to Heero and Duo talk about going back to America...to the place they called New York City, a place she'd only heard largely embellished stories of. Towers that reached to the clouds. A population made totally of royalty.  
  
She blinked her eyes open and gave him a small smile. "Yes," she told him. At least her voice was groggy from not having spoken yet. "That would be wonderful."  
  
He shifted the blanket off of her, helped her to stand. She ran a hand consciously through her soft blond strands. He grasped her fingers and kissed them in a way he hoped was reassuring. He'd never been too good with reassurance.  
  
"Let's go eat," he said simply. He reached for the room key on the dressed and, on impulse, also brought the gun beside it. He'd not yet needed to use it, but today... Today, somehow, it seemed necessary.  
  
They stepped into the hall, locked the door and walked to the hotel lobby in silence. Coming through the staircase door, they found a great fuss. Wufei and Duo were yelling, Trowa was protecting Hilde with his own body. Quatre hadn't yet returned.  
  
Heero's eyes then landed on a fairly tall man with burnt-golden hair. He wasn't at all Asian, and like Relena, he looked European.  
  
Relena's hand suddenly tightened in his. Heero looked down. "What's—" he began.  
  
"Treize," Relena muttered, voice completely surprised.  
  
Everyone fell silent. The stranger's eyes went to her, and a little bit of the anger previously in his deep blue eyes transformed into relief.  
  
"Relena," he breathed. "At last I've found you."  
  
***************************************************************  
  
Please review! Some of you are probably thinking "Oh my God, WTF?!" Those of you who've seen "Miss Saigon" might be able to guess what this is about. No spoiling anything in your reviews, please!  
  
Take care, GG 


	5. Time To Fall In Love

This was a fun chapter to write. I'm going to make a universal note to all: If you are familiar with the storyline of Miss Saigon (or even Madame Butterfly), please say nothing in your reviews that could possibly spoil the plot. Thanks in advance.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Miss Saigon. They belong to their respective owners.  
  
Warning: Some language, a bit of sap.  
  
Love Beyond All Fear Chapter Five  
  
By Gundam Girl  
  
The man called Treize had light blue eyes and butterscotch-colored hair. He looked fit, and, more than that, smart. And he was staring right at Relena with a chilled gaze.  
  
"Treize," Relena said, her voice unnecessarily clear, "what are you doing here?"  
  
Treize's small smile suddenly widened. "What a question. Relena, it has been months, and all you think to ask me is why I've come for you?"  
  
"Come for me?" Relena clenched a fist at her side.  
  
"Now, do not lie and say you have forgotten it. Our parents made a vow, Relena, when all of us came to this despicable country from our home." With steady, deliberate movements, he drew from the pocket of his faded jacket a ring, shimmering silver. "With that, they made the pact that we would marry and keep our family alive. Even among all these filthy Japs."  
  
Quatre walked inside the hotel lobby just in time to see the customary glare shadow Heero's face. He saw the European arrival and fell silent. Something was happening.  
  
"Marriage?" asked Heero, and Relena turned to him.  
  
"Trieze is my second cousin. Besides my family, his came here too. They arranged for us to be wed upon my twentieth birthday," she told him, eyes flicking continuously over to Treize.  
  
"A date that has passed," Treize added. "And so we are late in fulfilling our parents' promise. Come, Relena. I will take you from here."  
  
Relena whirled to him, her eyes sharp as nails. "Do not presume I will follow you."  
  
The smile fell from Treize's face.  
  
"You've no idea whatsoever what has occurred for me the last many months," Relena seethed, her voice low and jagged, as though her words would cut Treize's flesh.  
  
"I think I do." Treize returned her look. "Rumors fly of the pretty Sank girl who sells herself at a place called Fair View. Oh, Relena, and how I wanted to believe it wasn't true."  
  
"If one wants to stay alive—"  
  
"There is no honor in living as a whore!" exclaimed Treize.  
  
Wufei snorted.  
  
"At least," Relena said slowly, "I chose to keep living."  
  
The two cousins stared at each other for several long minutes. Hilde was biting her fingernails.  
  
Then Treize spoke in deep, trembling syllables. "You are mine."  
  
"Think that if you wish." Relena tossed her head. "It will drive you mad."  
  
"I think he already is." Heero set his arm around her waist and looked Treize in the eye. "Relena is mine now."  
  
"Yours?" Something dangerous flashed across Treize's eye. "Who the hell are you?" Then he saw the dog tags hanging around Heero's neck. "Oh, I see. Disguised, are you? Cold-blooded American."  
  
"Don't do anything, Heero," Duo said from behind them. "That's what goaded me."  
  
"Damn haughty Euro boys," muttered Trowa.  
  
"Why in the name of God," Treize demanded, "would you want a wretched American?"  
  
"He isn't wretched!" Relena shouted. "He brought me out of that place!"  
  
"And how much did he have to pay? Virgins cost much, especially to buy them out." Treize waited for an answer, and at their silence, his eyes widened. "He has had you." His hands reached out, fingers bent, slowly moving toward her throat. "He has had you?!"  
  
Heero stepped in front of her. "Try it. Just try it."  
  
Treize's hand felt back and suddenly pulled out a gun from his coat, clutching the ring in his fist now. "Dare you tell me to?"  
  
Lightning fast, Heero grabbed his arm and tugged it high behind his back. Treize and Relena, however, we're nearly toe-to-toe. He wanted to throw him out, but their was something, he could tell, that Relena wanted to say.  
  
"Why?" Treize snarled at her. "That vow was made to carry on the European, and you would squander it on this useless soldier? This shames both our families, Relena!"  
  
"I don't love you!" she screamed, covering her ears. "There can't be any shame in not marrying you because I haven't ever loved you! Not the way you want me to, Treize. I can't."  
  
"They wrote it in their blood!"  
  
"And all of that blood has been spilled. They are dead, and their promise invalid."  
  
"You are MINE!" Treize jerked, but Heero held onto him. Relena stepped away from him.  
  
"No." She shook her head, pressing her hand to her heart. "No. Not anymore."  
  
"Relena," he growled, "you are going to pay for this. You turn yourself into a sinner."  
  
"Get the hell out!" Heero ordered, wrenching the gun from Treize's hand and tossing him toward the door. He aimed the gun at his head. "Now."  
  
Treize made sure he caught Relena's eyes at the door. "You will see me again. I swear it."  
  
"You're wrong," Relena told him, her chin raised. "I'm leaving."  
  
One last glare, and Treize strode angrily out of the hotel.  
  
Everyone was silent. Tears filled Relena's eyes, and the chin she had jerked up wobbled. "I'm not hungry anymore," she murmured and turned to flee. She didn't get further than two steps when Heero caught her around the shoulders and pulled her against his chest.  
  
Then she merely collapsed.  
  
Quatre pursed his lips. "Breakfast in my room," he suggested. The others nodded and Heero led Relena back upstairs.  
  
Outside the door, he set her on her own two feet to let themselves in, and Heero gently pulled her inside the room again. Kicking the door closed, he sat her down on the unmade bed.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Relena pressed a hand to her mouth, shaking her head back and forth despairingly. "You're going to leave me now, aren't you?"  
  
Taken aback, Heero sat down beside her. "What?"  
  
"Knowing that I was supposed to be someone else's, that a promise was made...that would distract any man from—"  
  
"Stop it!" Totally shocked, Heero took her hands and pressed them to his neck. "Feel that, Relena. That's for you."  
  
Her tears continued to fall as Heero's pulse thrummed against Relena's fingers. "I don't deserve it." Pulling away, she held herself tightly around her middle. "I don't deserve you, Heero."  
  
"That's ridiculous."  
  
"It's not!" she insisted, half-furious – but at herself, never him. "That vow of my parents, Heero, I can't undo it."  
  
"I don't care about any vow," he told her, his boldly blue eyes boring into hers. "What I care is about is you and getting you out of this hellhole. Relena, come on." He tenderly urged her to let go of herself and to hold onto him, encouraging her to slide into his lap. "We are, you know. We'll leave here."  
  
Relena smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Will we? And then?" She met his eyes. "What after we leave and go to America?"  
  
Heero brushed his lips over her forehead. "When we get there, we'll go to New York City. You'll be absolutely amazed, Relena. Some of the buildings there are more than forty stories high."  
  
Her eyes grew bright just trying to picture it. "Is there ice cream there?"  
  
Heero stared for a moment, then chuckled. "Ice cream? Yeah. Why?"  
  
Relena giggled. "Hilde told me about ice cream once. There isn't any in Sank. But she said there was some in Germany and that it's the best thing in the world." Comforted, and forgetting all about Treize, and pressed against him. "I bet everything in this New York is better than this world here."  
  
"It is. I'm going to take you there; I swear it." He smiled back at her, caressing her smooth face with his calloused fingers. "And after everything's settled in, Relena..." He paused. What a leap, he thought. What a big leap. "After that, I'm going to marry you."  
  
"You're—" Relena's mouth fell open, but no other sound came out until a few more moments later. "Marry me? Heero, I... I can't ask you do that."  
  
"You're not asking me," he pointed out. "I want to. I want to be with you." He interlaced their fingers and rested his chin on her head. "I think... Oh, hell with it," he breathed out when he looked into her shining eyes. "I love you."  
  
Her smile was like a ray of sunshine in the shadowed world of WWII Japan. "Heero," she murmured.  
  
"You don't need to say anything yet," he told her. "I know it's hard."  
  
"No, I..." Well, it was hard, but that wasn't why she couldn't speak. Her throat simply closed up, and tears she thought had ceased continued to flow.  
  
"Relena." He wiped them away with his lips. "Smile for me?"  
  
Relena stood up and walked away from the bed. Heero rose and followed her halfway to the window, where she sat on the sill and gazed at the dusty Japan that was all she had known for so long. Suddenly, she turned her gaze back to him and did smile. Then she threw her head back and laughed, deliriously happy. Springing up, she ran to him, and he caught her, spinning her around and around.  
  
"I love you too," she declared. "I love you so much, Heero Yuy."

------

They didn't leave the hotel room for the rest of the day. Trowa came in once to drop a bag of food on their table. When he did, the room was dark and all he could hear was a muffled giggling. Duo and Hilde had apparently found a secret location and hadn't come back.  
  
It was the next day that either of them made an appearance. Heero came downstairs to socialize with his fellow soldiers and to relay some news.  
  
"Heero," Quatre said when he saw the Japanese man, "I thought you and Relena had fought or something and you were both mad at everyone."  
  
Trowa raised an eyebrow at him. "You thought that?"  
  
Heero did something strange then as he reached for a thermos of tea, since coffee was not available in this part of Japan. He grinned, completely unmasked.  
  
Wufei's eyes narrowed to alert slits as he regarded the sergeant. "Any particular reason why you're so cheerful, other than the events in the nook?"  
  
"Actually," he said, settling into the only remaining chair just as Duo showed up, "yes."  
  
Duo was whistling. "Mornin', everybody." He looked around. "Why are people confused?"  
  
"Heero's smiling," Trowa informed him, gulping down more tea. God, it wasn't anything like coffee at all. He barely felt the hell awake. It was in the mornings that he missed New York the most. A good coffee house was only a block away.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh. No kidding." Duo stretched and sat on the edge of the creaky table.  
  
"Get off," Wufei ordered, swatting him away, "it'll break."  
  
"All right, all right. So...why is Heero smiling?" the braided one asked cautiously.  
  
"Because," Heero said simply, "I'm quitting the marines."  
  
The four fell silent as Heero casually drank his tea. Then he looked at them all. "What's the matter?"  
  
"You're going to quit?!" seethed Wufei, promptly jerking back and crossing his arms. "How weak are you, Yuy?"  
  
"What brought this around?" asked Quatre more quietly. "You seemed very content to stay in military work, Heero."  
  
Heero met his eyes, knowing he would find compassion there and was grateful for it. "This country," he murmured, "even though my roots are here, is a total mystery to me. I may look a lot like Japanese, but I'm American."  
  
"Ditto," sighed Duo. "I hear that one loud and clear."  
  
"It makes me feel like all I want to do is leave. Like all I want to do is to just go home." Heero drained the rest of his tea like whiskey. Everything was so clear in his mind, so great. "But I don't want to go without Relena. So she's coming. And I want to show her America so badly it almost hurts."  
  
"I'm ready for home," admitted Quatre. "My sisters are so worried about me, I bet, and they can't even write to me out here with us undercover like this. But I think I'm going to asked to be relocated. Trowa and I were discussing it."  
  
"New York," Trowa smiled slightly. "God, it miss the city."  
  
"Christ, yeah," Duo said. "The lights in the place, the smoke, the gasoline." He shrugged. "The women."  
  
"The plays," reminisced Quatre.  
  
Duo wrinkled his nose. "Only you. But yeah, Broadway..."  
  
"We can do communications in New York," Trowa told them. "There's a rumor about a company that wants soldiers to help out with immigration, just in case something has to get nasty."  
  
Heero shook his head. "I just want to go back there. I'm tired of this place. I don't want Relena to have to stay here any longer."  
  
"Or Hilde," Duo agreed.  
  
Wufei snorted and leaned forward again. "Well, while you guys have been wishing for home so badly, I've actually been doing so work. We got a message in today."  
  
The other four looked at his grim face and each of them felt the weight in their chests.  
  
Then Wufei grinned. "They're shipping a large bit of us out from Japan back to the states. Tomorrow."  
  
Duo nearly whooped but remembered just where they were and settled for fisting the air. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."  
  
"Shit if I am. Truth is," Wufei confessed, "I wanna get the hell out of here too."  
  
"Damn yes!" Duo hopped up from the table, which he'd managed to lean against without Wufei noticing. "I'm going to tell Hilde." Leaning over, he punched Trowa's shoulder and ruffled Quatre's hair at the same time. "We're goin' home, boys!"  
  
When he was gone, Trowa grabbed his thermos and gulped down the rest of his tea too. "Looks like we're getting what we wanted."  
  
"After five months, thank God," Heero nodded. He stood up too. "I'm going to go talk to Relena. You guys," he said slowly. "Relena and I... We're getting married."  
  
Wufei's brows arched up. "Well," he said shortly.  
  
Trowa seemed surprised too. "I see," he replied smoothly. "When?"  
  
"Couple months after we get to New York." He'd been thinking about it all night. "She'll want you all to be there, of course. Me too."  
  
"Send me a note," Wufei said, smirking the slightest bit.  
  
Quatre smiled, but it was uneasily. "Congratulations, Heero."  
  
Heero's eyesbrows lowered as he watched the blond one of them fumble in putting the lid back on his tea thermos. "Do you think it's a bad idea, Quatre?"  
  
"What? Of course I don't! I'm really happy for you two," Quatre said sincerely. "And I mean that, honestly. But..." The shadow crossed his face again, dimming his blue-green eyes. "I'm a little worried."  
  
"That we won't be happy?" Heero asked.  
  
"No, not that. I'm worried...because I have a bad feeling." He was silent, but then in the next instant, Quatre shook his head and laughed. "It's nothing. Probably the tea."  
  
"Well...okay." Suspicious, Heero told himself not to be paranoid. Nothing could go wrong, naturally. They were going home. Yes.  
  
He and Relena were going home.

---------------------

Hey, all! I'm glad I could put this one up before I go to North Carolina on Thursday. If you are reading this, don't be a lurker! Leave a review and let me know what you think! The more reviews I get, the faster the chapters come out! So yeah...here come the caps...REVIEW! 


	6. Wait For Me

Here's the major turning point of the story. Please review!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own GW.  
  
Love Beyond All Fear Chapter Six  
  
Warning: Language.  
  
By Gundam Girl  
  
Early the next morning, Heero, Relena, and the others were inside a secured building with property that served as an official US landing site. There was a long line of other marines waiting to fill out return registration forms. All were incredible anxious to get home, although some were admitting that they wish there had been more action.  
  
Relena seemed daunted by all of the men, many of who were leering at her. Heero wrapped an arm around her shoulders and fought off the interested looks with a terrifying glare. Once a man spit at both of them, calling them "damn foreigners."  
  
Hilde seemed fine. She was very good at ignoring whomever she wanted to ignore, and she kept a hand on Duo's upper arm, more for the closeness than any intimidation.  
  
When Heero and Relena approached the registration table, they were greeted with a smile from a young man full of exhilaration. It seemed he was ready to get home as much as anyone else, and if that meant sitting at a table all day then so be it. "Name?"  
  
"Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft...soon to be Yuy," he added.  
  
The man nodded. "I see. Well, that's good for you. I need to have both of your signatures, Sergeant Yuy, and a written statement declaring that you're going to marry Miss Peacecraft when you arrive back on home soil."  
  
"Yes, sir," Heero affirmed, accepting the pen and sheet of paper the register held out to him. He bent over to a do as he was asked.  
  
Relena was relieved that there was at least one friendly face in the crowd of strangers. When he turned his smile to her, she smiled slightly back.  
  
"My name's Kyle. Are you looking forward to seeing America?" he asked kindly.  
  
Relena flushed and nodded. "I've been told it's wonderful."  
  
"It really is. Although I can't deny that Japan has its touches too." Kyle nodded. "Perhaps one day, when we're not at war, I'll come back here and see more of it."  
  
Heero straightened and handed over the document. "Thanks."  
  
"The planes should be leaving at about noon tomorrow. We'll need you here for a head count around nine, Sergeant Yuy, but your fiancée can come later if she wants."  
  
"We'll see you tomorrow," Heero said, placing a hand on Relena's back to lead her out of the building and back to the hotel. "Are you all right?" he inquired quietly as he walked.  
  
"All those men...they didn't seem to like us," she told him honestly.  
  
"It wasn't so much you as it was me," explained Heero. "We're in Japan. Japan's the enemy. I'm Japanese, so even though I'm fighting with the Americans, they consider me a savage."  
  
"But you're..." Relena held off until they were inside the hotel again. She nodded to the caretaker. "You're one of the kindest men on earth!"  
  
Heero smiled, tipped her face up and kissed her. "I love you," he said simply.  
  
Relena slipped her hands into his and lightly tugged him to the stairs. For the first time, as the happiness swelled inside her and threatened to burst, she gave him a smile that was honestly wicked. "Let me show you what I feel."  
  
Laughing, they stumbled their way back to the bedroom and made love all night.  
  
---  
  
"There's been a breach," Wufei reported, sitting down with Trowa and Quatre at the table. Heero, Relena, Hilde, and Duo were...indisposed.  
  
"What kind?" asked Trowa calmly.  
  
"A big kind. I was just talking with the chief of communications at base, and he said that there's a fifty-fifty chance that the Japanese government knows about the group here." The Chinaman scowled. "I wish we had more clues than that. Puts one on edge."  
  
Quatre shrugged. "Worrisome," he agreed. "We're so close...I'd hate for something to happen now."  
  
"What if it was that guy?" wondered Trowa. "The one who came here for Relena."  
  
"It isn't likely," Wufei replied. "None of us were in uniform. To him, we were probably just some foolish Americans who had the bad luck to come see Japan at this time."  
  
"That's possible," Trowa acknowledged. "But he didn't look like a dim guy. He did Heero's gun."  
  
"To the average mind, a gun's a gun." Wufei snorted and propped his feet up on the table. "Let's just relax until we get the hell out of this place tomorrow."  
  
Relax, Quatre mused. He hadn't been able to relax since he was last in America. He wouldn't relax until he was back there.  
  
---  
  
Relena woke up feeling slightly sick. A glance at the watch on Heero's wrist told her it was eight-ten. She gave Heero's shoulder a light push, and he stirred. "They'll be expecting you soon," she whispered.  
  
The first thing he did was sit up and kiss her. She gave herself into that one press of flesh, gripping his arm. When they broke apart, her hand was shaking.  
  
"What's wrong?" Heero asked solemnly. "Are you okay?"  
  
Relena bit her lip. "I just..." She couldn't explain it, not fully. "I don't want you to leave me today."  
  
Heero smiled. "Uncle Sam's pulling our honeymoon closer," he joked.  
  
"Can I go with you?" she pleaded quietly. "I'll stay out of the way, I won't bother anybody. But if you're not here, I don't want to be. Heero."  
  
He hugged her, and she rested her head against his chest. "We've got time yet, Relena. You should stay, pack a few things. Try to calm down a little. It's never good to fly if you're excited." He paused. "They wouldn't approve of me having you in there just now."  
  
Relena looked down at her lap. "I'm scared, Heero."  
  
He misinterpreted her words as being afraid of going to America, but that was not what Relena meant. "Everything's fine. Give or take four hours, Relena, and then we'll be going." He stood up and quickly pulled on some clothes. Then he lifted his gun from his pocket and laid it on the mattress in front of her. Turning, he smiled at her. "I want you waiting here for me when I get back."  
  
As the door closed behind him, Relena hugged her knees to her chest, then silently lifted the cool metal weapon. A thing like this, she thought, could kill. After today, she wouldn't see anymore killing, she wouldn't hear any more screams.  
  
Still, something in her gut wrenched. And she began to dress.  
  
---  
  
A quarter-mile within the base, Heero was confused. There were people, European and Japanese, rushing the building, and he had to push and show him dog tags to get remotely close to the door.  
  
"Sergeant Yuy!" Kyle was the one who opened the door for him and yanked him bodily inside. "We have to speed things up by a few hours!"  
  
"What?!" Heero exclaimed. "What the hell are you—"  
  
"The rumors were right! There are Japanese soldiers on their way here right now, traveling by land. They could be here by eleven!"  
  
"Rumors?" Heero asked. "What rumors?"  
  
"My point is, sir," Kyle went on, "we're evacuating and soon." When Heero turned, he leapt in front of him. "The orders were already sent out, sir. You're the last one here, and we can't allow anyone to leave unless it's by plane."  
  
"Are you nuts?!" shouted Heero. "My girl's out there! I can't just leave her here! I WON'T."  
  
"You have to," said another voice.  
  
Heero looked and saw Wufei. "I refuse."  
  
Wufei shook his head, totally serious. "You have no choice, Sergeant. Orders are orders, and they apply to all of us. No one is to leave the base, and as of five seconds ago, no one is allowed to enter. The exception is a couple guards we've got controlling the crowds. The whole town is coming."  
  
"If they're here when the soldiers come," Quatre said from nearby, "they'll be killed for the hiding of American troops, whether this helped us or not."  
  
"Relena's out there!" Heero bellowed. "Do expect me to just leave her? You're insane if you think I'm going to—"  
  
"You can't do anything about it!" retorted Wufei.  
  
---  
  
Baffled by the people swarming the base, Relena ran to the building with the hundreds of others. What was happening? Where were all the soldiers? "I'm the wife of a soldier!" she called. "Please – let me through!" Why was there so much chaos?  
  
Managing to get right up to the gate, she called up to the soldiers on top. "I'm looking for my husband!"  
  
The soldiers sneered down at her. "Yeah? Listen, tart, I've got people looking for there dogs."  
  
She blinked and felt sweat bead on her temples. "No, please listen. I'm engaged to Sergeant Heero Yuy! If you could get him—"  
  
"Yuy took up a whore, huh? Well, nice try, sweetheart, but I'm not buying." His face contorted with utter rage. "Now go back to the bed you climbed out of."  
  
"Please! Please tell him..." Despairing, she pulled out of the gun Heero had left with her, the only thing with her. "Look, I have his gun!"  
  
"If that's all you got, all I need to worry about is you shooting people. But you don't even know how to use that, do you?"  
  
Relena pressed the metal to her chest. Heero...  
  
---  
  
Heero's grip was tight on the phone receiver. Why wasn't Relena at the hotel room? Where in God's name had she gone? "Pick up, Relena..." When it continued to ring, he slammed the phone down and made a dash for the door. "I've gotta go back for my wife!" he yelled when Wufei pinned him down. "WUFEI!"  
  
---  
  
"Who do I need to pay?!" Relena demanded frantically to anyone who would listen to her. People were screaming all over the place. "What can I do to—" She was jarred by an off-balance Japanese whore.  
  
"Shut up!" one wild-eyed man shouted at her.  
  
Relena's tears began to spring. "Someone, please, my husband is inside!"  
  
---  
  
"Let me go, Wufei!" screamed Heero. "I can't leave her!"  
  
"Heero," Duo said, his hand tight in Hilde's, who had come with him that morning. "Wufei, come on. Let him go." But his voice held no gumption.  
  
Heero thrashed in Wufei's and now Quatre's arms. "Why in the world should I be saved instead of her?!"  
  
Trowa came forward just as the two men were hauling Heero up, and with a sure aim, he punched Heero in the gut. The wind was knocked out of the blue-eyed sergeant, but Heero stared with death in his eyes at the tall man.  
  
"It's not you that's cruel," Trowa said lowly. "It's the war. And maybe, if some hopes get smashed, perhaps it's best if they were."  
  
"Trowa," growled Heero. "You don't know..."  
  
"Listen to them out there, Heero!" Trowa insisted. "Listen to the fucking screaming! That's not just Relena, that's THOUSANDS of poor people that could die today. She's not the only one we'll have betrayed."  
  
---  
  
Relena's breath was ragged with shock as she watched the guards go back into the base just as plane engines roared to life from behind the building. Heero... Heero...  
  
I can't get free, she thought. I can never...  
  
'I'm still with you,' she thought fervently.  
  
"Relena!" Startled at hearing her name, Relena turned and saw Howard rushing toward her. "Come with me!" he exclaimed. "Quickly, quickly!"  
  
"What are you doing?" cried Relena as Howard pulled on her arm.  
  
"They'll kill who they find here," Howard told her, insistently tugging her away from the crowd and into a pathetically beaten jeep. "And the soldiers are leaving us behind."  
  
"Heero's in—"  
  
"Heero's gone," Howard sharply interrupted, his gaze unreadable behind his ridiculous sunglasses. "Before you even think about him again, we've got to get out of here." He pushed her into the jeep, climbed up himself, and they sped off, out of the city.  
  
Relena didn't stop to think about why Howard might have come to get her away from the base. She could only comprehend the booming of her heart against her ribs and the twist of her stomach.  
  
But, in her sorrow, she felt a certain strength. Heero had made a promise, hadn't he? He had. And she knew Heero; Heero would not break a promise he had made to her.  
  
---  
  
Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre had to struggle to get Heero into the plane. Sitting in a corner, Hilde wept into the crook of Duo's shoulder. The muffled sobs were like back ground tones in Heero's ears. All he could hear was her voice:  
  
/I don't deserve you./  
  
The rage welled and welled like a bubble, thick and running, until suddenly he grit his teeth and everything inside him burst. The plane began to rise before the door even closed, and as he looked out over Japan, he jerked again at his friends' hands. One person haunted him, her face, her voice, her scent, her eyes...  
  
Tears ran down Heero cheeks as he shouted it.  
  
"RELENA!"  
  
The door closed. And he knew.  
  
She was gone.  
  
---  
  
Relena's eyes dried, and her heart hardened. In her mind was one thought only:  
  
I will wait for you. Heero.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
I'm like a posting freak of nature! I swear I'm not high on anything. This is WACKED.  
  
Review please!!! 


	7. I Still Believe You Will Return

I admit I enjoyed the response I got for chapter six, being called everything from a genius to a bitch.  (Lance, your review was the best! I've never been insulted and praised in the same beat like that before…  And Morri-chan, I'm VERY glad you're not Rose! )

Just want to say thanks, all, and please keep it up! This story's really important to me, as it's kind of in honor to my friend Maxine – whom I hear less and less from, HINT HINT, Max! – since she was originally going to help me write this. Love ya, Max.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

---

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter Seven

By Gundam Girl

---

Three Years Later 

Howard was busy.  Howard had been busy for a very long time now.  Walking through the ruined remains of a place he had once seen as his domain, his paradise, he was stricken by a sense of longing.  His paradise was lost.

It hadn't been a very good paradise, admittedly, but it had still been one.  And in Japan, men took whatever heaven they could scrape up.  The Americans had beat the living shit out of the country he had been born in, and everyone was still recovering.  It would be that way for a few more years yet, he imagined.

Howard was one of the very few not bitter toward the United States.  He had heard point of views from both sides; he had agreed and disagreed with points on each end.  He was a very neutral man.

He was a very poor man as well.  Ever since the day the GI's had moved out in their big white planes, he had been treading his feet in the mug, risking getting stuck.  His one accomplishment was being able to save Relena.  It made him smug to think of it now.  Manager Howard, a hero.  If he could've he would have gotten Hilde out, too.  But he hadn't been able to find her.  He betted she had either persuaded one of the GI's to take her to America, she had snuck onboard a plane, or she had been an early victim.

It was most likely the latter.

He looked around; though some people had foraged out a trashy living in the wreckage, there wasn't a soul in sight.  And so no one saw him go inside the wretched mess that had once been his great work.

Fair View, in his opinion, had gotten in the worst.  Not a table had been left upright, not a window had been spared.  There were molded and crusty bits of food everywhere.  The place held an overwhelming stench of bad beer and sour wine.

His heart fell as he looked at it.  Paradise had definitely gone to hell.

At the sound of already broken glass crunching beneath feet, Howard whirled around, had at his back.  He always kept a sheathed, short dagger with him.  Not that he could ever use it well, but it was always good to have _some _sort of defense.

His face went pale at the sight of a dark-haired Japanese soldier, dressed in a starched uniform and glaring at him with hard, cold eyes. 

"Hidaki Tomoya," the soldier said icily.

Howard thought about lying but knew he'd never get away with it.  The army knew its facts.  "Just call me Howard," he replied.

"Hidaki, your presence has been requested."  The soldier stepped forward, spreading out a short rope. 

Howard sighed and held out his wrists for the soldiers to tie together.  _Every man faces Destiny one day, _he told himself.  "By whom, may I ask?"

"Someone better than you," was the curt reply.

"Heh."  Howard grinned, his eyes twinkling behind his wide black sunglasses.  _No one's better than me, pal.  I'm the best businessman there ever was._

---

Every morning, Relena woke to the smell of smoke that came from the nearby fire.  Every morning it threw her into a light panic; panic about the death of her family, about the punishment the Japanese military had bestowed upon the small town she had worked for Howard in.  No, the town she had met Heero in. 

This morning was no different.  The place she had been living the last three years was occupied by a group of no more than six women, the oldest only thirty-five.  Their home was a tiny, two-room shack that was getting more and more damaged every year.  The small well they got water from was drying up, the one sliding door used for the rare exit and entrance no longer closed all the way, and more than once, wild animals had come in and stolen what little food they could scavenge from the woods the shack was hid deeply in.

Howard had driven her here in the jeep he'd stolen from an occupied GI the night before.  The machine had died two miles away from the house and they had ran the rest of the way.  It turned out that Howard's sister, Nibiki (she had not changed her name to something American), lived here alone and were taking in women from the "punished" district if they managed to escape.  Only four besides Relena had.  As far as she knew, everyone else in the town had been slaughtered by the furious Japanese army because of US soldiers being hidden in the town without a report being made.

The only reason, Relena had known all along, for Howard saving her was because she had been an eye-catch at Fairview – which was now surely destroyed – even though she had only been bought buy one customer.  Howard had hoped for her to pick up work for him again soon in another village.  But Relena had been unable to do so, and Howard had left quickly.  She did not see him after that.

The last one awake, Relena did a quick check to make sure everything of hers was in its proper place, as she did every morning.  Then she stood and ran a coarse comb through her hair, leaving it hanging down and dirty around her waist.  She would have to wash it soon, providing they had enough excess water.

It was times like these, when the house was silent, and she was not yet needed for the chores of the day, that Relena permitted herself to think and remember.  As the work worked through her hair, she recalled how Heero's fingers had felt going through it, then moving it aside so he could kiss her neck…

Other women would cry at the memory.  Relena's tears had dried up long ago.  For who thinks about the husband she loved and cries?

Relena had considered Heero her husband since the day he had signed the paper promising to marry her once they got to America – the home he had told her all about, with the tall buildings and the good food and the ice cream and the people of many countries running around and living like one race.  Heero had wanted to return there so badly.  Relena had wanted to go with him.

Her heart constricted; she would.  Heero had wanted her with him as well.  It had not been a long wait, and so Relena was sure that he would be arriving for her soon.  Maybe he was here already, looking for her…

He'd have found her by now, she told herself logically.  Nibiki had told her that Howard was hiding out in the town, unable to leave his bar.  That was like him.

Reaching under the small pillow she used, she pulled out her gun and placed it next to her hip inside the waistband on the short shorts she had acquired from a trader.  Around it, Relena tightened the single kimono she had worn for the last three years.  She wasn't Japanese but the other women, who all were, had treated her as such, and she now spoke the language fluently and was beginning to think in it as well.  She shook her hair back again and made herself smile, as she did every morning.  And she began her day, forcing thoughts of her husband from her mind.

But she never stopped waiting for him.

---

As Relena was just waking up, Heero was just going to bed.  Actually, he'd been in bed for a while, and he hadn't been sleeping; not well, anyway.

It was like any other night.  Catherine would be lying awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to him breathe.  He'd stir, he'd moan, and she would already be sitting up when he shot out of sleep yelling something Catherine had never been able to decipher before.

Heero's nightmares were a nightly thing.  He never took naps because seeing the images were hard enough in the evening, and he didn't want them in the daytime too.

Catherine ran her hand over his hair, kissing his cold, damp forehead and holding his shaking body.  "Heero…Heero, it's all right."

"It was bad," his deep voice rumbled.  "It was the worst thing."

"I know.  I know, dear."  Catherine frowned.  That was the thing; she _didn't _know.  "It's all over, Heero.  You're not in Japan anymore.  You're back in New York.  In America, love."

Heero's shaking settled a bit.  "I saw…  I saw…"  But before he could say what he had seen, he'd dozed up again against Catherine's negligee-covered chest.

Catherine bit her lip, tears in her eyes.  Her tears were a nightly thing, too.  Night was the only time she could get Heero to open up a little; he never spoke of his time in Japan or World War II.  He rarely saw the people he had known while he was there, save for four, who had apparently worked an important mission with him and lived in New York City as well.  One of them was Catherine's brother, Trowa, who still worked communications with his friend Quatre.  They lived right beside Grand Central Station as work partners.

Trowa had introduced Heero to Cathy a year and a couple months after her brother and Heero had returned from Japan.  Heero had seemed like a very cold, hard person who didn't enjoy people very much.  Catherine hadn't been taken in by him at all.  But then they had gone out and talked and Trowa insisted she see him again.  They went out again, because Catherine loved her brother.  Heero had told her a bit about his childhood, being Japanese and growing up as the son of an American mother and an immigrant Japanese father.  He told her that it had been hard growing up because he looked different, didn't fit in with the Americans and didn't fit in with the Japanese.  Catherine had inevitably warmed up to Heero, and Heero had begun to trust Catherine.

They had been married for a year and a half now.  She gazed at the small gold ring on her left middle finger, though she could barely see it in the dark.  Exchanged nearly two years ago, she had no regrets.  She loved Heero.  Heero loved her.  She knew that. Most of the time.

As Cathy eased her husband off of her and back onto the mattress, he woke up suddenly again.  And first the first time, what he was screaming in terror was audible.

A name.  A woman's name.  Not American, but not Japanese either.  Catherine eyes widened as she stared down at Heero, who quickly settled into sleep once more.

_Who was she? _Catherine wondered in shock.

Who was Relena?

---

"Relena!  _Relena_!"

Nibiki Hadaki was startled to hear her brother's voice.  She looked up from trying to make the door close all the way to see Tomoya, or rather, Howard, as he was now called, running toward her house.  "_Oniiwe?"_

"Nibiki," Howard said.  "_Onee-chan. _Relena.  Where—"

Nibiki pointed to the door, already babbling questions.  But Howard ran past her, ridiculous Hawaiian printed shirt (now nearly in pieces) flapping madly.  "RELENA!"

Relena was just closing the door of a three-feet tall cabinet and stared at Howard, face pale.  "Howard.  What are you—"

"You need to get outside now.  Someone wants to see you," Howard said seriously, eyebrows narrowed.  "Go quickly.  He's impatient."

"Who do you—"

"_Go_!"  Howard pushed her toward the open door.  "This isn't just about you," he hissed into her ear.  "Don't do something stupid, girl."

Confused and more than a little frightened, Relena walked through the door.  She saw the military car, three uniformed soldiers, and…

_God, no._

Relena's fear was well-placed.  She didn't know whether to scream, to run, to just stand there or…

"Treize."  Her voice slipped out like a hard chunk of ice on the verge of cracking.  "What are you doing here?"  Her eyes slipped over to Howard's weak-looking frame.  "What have you done to him?"

"Relena."  Treize smiled from his place next to the car.  "In answer to your second question, I asked Mr. Hidaki to show me to you.  In answer to the first, I'm here to bring you home."

Relena immediately tensed.  "You shouldn't be here, Treize.  This is a place of peaceful women—"

"Who escaped the village that betrayed Japan.  I know."  He brushed some imaginary dirt from the sleeve of his fancy, expensive-looking uniform.  "Do I look violent to you?"

"You look like a soldier, and they are always violent."

She always had been quick, Treize told himself.  It pleased him enormously.  "Shall we continue this conversation inside?"  Relena didn't response, his smile widened.  "Let's.  Mr. Hidaki, join us."  He motioned to the other soldiers.  "Wait outside."

When the door was closed as far as it could go, and Howard, Relena, and Treize were inside, Treize turned his smile to her.  "Aren't you proud of me, Relena?  I'm European, but help with certain attempts at…ah…purification, and they let me into the Japanese military."

"You mean you sold out Japanese men," Relena said.

"I helped give rightful punishment to rebels that deserved it.  I can do it again as well," he said in a way that was like an afterthought.  Relena knew it wasn't.  "You have no idea how much I've missed you!" he exclaimed, clear eyes happy.

"I can imagine," Relena disagreed.  "Enough to bond my employer and force him to reveal this place to you."

Treize's good expression wavered for a moment, but only that.  "Come now, Relena.  Come home.  If you do, I guarantee that I will erase any shame you have brought upon our household."

"We don't _have _household," Relena snapped.

"Not yet," corrected Treize.  "We will soon."  He kept right on smiling, and it turned Relena's stomach.

"Listen to me," she said lowly.  "Treize.  You are my cousin. And I do care for you – one part of me does at least."

Treize's eyes dimmed.

"But I do not love you.  I cannot love you.  I will not.  And," Relena said, voice clear and loud, "I _will not_ be your wife!  Anything you offer me, I _refuse_!"

Khushrenada's eyes narrowed.  "Do you realize the magnitude of your words?"

"Of course I do."

"You don't," he told her softly.  "Shall I show you?"

"I don't care what you—"

Treize lifted a hand and snapped his fingers, then yelled something in French.  Relena hadn't spoken the language in so long that she couldn't decipher what it was.  But the soldiers stormed in.  Two of them each grabbed Howard and Relena.  She screamed and Howard gasped as they were forced to their knees.  Guns were out in an instant and pressed to their scalps.  Relena hissed against the pain in her skull as horror swept over her.  She didn't want to die, oh God, she couldn't…

"Do you see?!" shouted Treize, leaning over her.  She watched his intimidating form out of the corners of her eyes.  "This is what I have the power to do now! I'm not helpless anymore, do you see that?!  With a word, I can send both you and this bastard to your deaths!  Or maybe," he went on fiercely, "to the mines.  How would you like to be enslaved, Relena?!  **_How would you like that?!_**"

"Treize," she murmured. 

"GET OUT!" he yelled at the soldiers suddenly in Japanese.  "Get the hell out! OUT!"

Replacing their guns and releasing the two civilians, the three soldiers stomped out as quickly as they had rushed in.

Relena fought for breath over the terror lodged in her chest.  _God! _she thought, _Good God!_

"Is there something _wrong with you_?!" Howard demanded in a whisper as Treize's back was turned.  "There has to be!  Are you _waiting _for them to kill me?  I'm a bug beneath their feet, to be squashed any second!"

"I never thought he'd come here," she whispered back, still stricken.

"Then that's been corrected, hasn't it?  He wants you to go with him, so girl, you fucking _go!  _Say yes now, I don't give a damn if you love him or not.  Princess, you can't get anything out of anything if you're dead!"

Relena shook her head at him as thought raced through her brain, maddening her.  "I—I have a husband."  A small sob tore through her throat.  "A husband I love.  I can't marry Treize while I—"

"I swear to God you can!" Howard seethed.  "Now _do it!_"

Relena wiped her eyes as Treize turned to them again. 

"Do you see _now _what power I have?  Do you still deny me, Relena?!"

She stared up at him.  Lips trembling she muttered, "Heero will come for me!  And he'll take me away from _you!_"

--------------------------------------------

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	8. No Alternative

As a warning, this is this chapter that will probably change your entire view on this fic. Prepare for some shock. On another note, the response to this fic from everyone has been wonderful. Please continue to let me know your thoughts and feelings!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Miss Saigon. I'd also like to remind you that some dialogue and story narration is taken directly from the show for the amusement of those familiar with it, and I do not claim to own that.

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter Eight

By Gundam Girl

He saw it again. Every night, he saw it. Every night, he saw her.

There was always people there. Mobs of people in groups of hundreds, maybe thousands. Smoke scented the gray air like a kind of sadistic perfume, throwing him harder and harder into despair. He saw faces he knew; Trowa, Wufei, Quatre, Duo, Hilde. He even saw Fair View's work engineer, Howard and the many whores. All of them had one goal: to get out, to leave home or to get there. America coursed through them and all of them wanted it.

Heero's goal was the same as theirs. He wanted to leave this smoke-grayed land, where the food was in short supply, clean water was a chance of luck, and escaping illness was nearly impossible. In this town, so seedy in its nature, disease lit up like a wildfire. Like the flames that were slowly devouring everything in sight.

Over all of the desolation, there was always the constant sound of bulky engines, roaring loudly like a scream. They called out to him: _You have no time, and you have no hope, and no chance, and no love._

He denied it, called back to the screaming engines every night, yelling how wrong they were. Then Heero realized it wasn't the engines trying to discourage him. It was the hordes of people, frantically chasing for the base, desperate to get inside and on those planes. Some of them stopped and reached for him, grabbing at his clothes and skin, begging, pleading for him to help them get out of the wretchedness that they had been born into.

But he was selfish. Even as their shouts for mercy and help deafened him, he barely heard the words. He couldn't think of them. He couldn't afford to think of them until he had…

It was like a poison, this terrible loss. It dripped from the place she had last touched him – his lips, as though he had drank from her – down his throat, to his heart, drying the life out of him. Heero expected to die any moment.

Shadows passed over the town as the mood changed from dark to black. Incredible heat that threatened to melt happiness spread, coming from the far reaches of the city. A rhythmic beat of marching met his ears, and the screams grew louder, and the scrambling grew violent. He'd already seen four dead men bleeding on the ground, trampled to death.

Even though his stomach turned in natural nausea, the ache in his heart was were. Right now, no matter what else was happening here or in the entire world, he was a fanatic. He was obsessed with finding her.

"Relena!" His voice was strangled and hoarse even to his own ears. "Relena!" God, why couldn't he find her? "Relena!"

The marching grew louder, but the screaming died down, the voices softly muting themselves with tiny echoes bursting around him. Suddenly, all the sound was gone. The crowds continued to furiously move, but they were silent now, their voices trapped and locked.

Except for one.

"No! Nooo!" It sounded feminine, soft even in its desperation. Torturously innocent. It could only be her.

Heero ran faster, through the swarms of bodies, jumping over small children if necessary. He could feel the soles of his army boots protest as it hit the uneven rocks that formed the street beneath him.

"Don't! Stop it!"

The shrieks boiled his blood. Both angry and afraid, Heero nearly pushed an older man out of his way. "Relena!"

"Heero? Heero! Heer—!"

He came to the brick building of Fair View, saw the people inside, and burst through the doors. Badges and guns flashed in the dim light of the bar. The Japanese army stalked like a dragon. And like most dragons, they preferred pretty females as their prey.

They were soundless as well, but the sneers and smirks on their faces spoke loudly enough. With his face pale and his flesh cold, Heero made his way over to the small part in the sea of soldiers. Looking where one of the colored lamps aimed on the floor, red and chilling, he saw the small body of a young woman.

Her skin was white, her long hair was golden and everywhere; fanned out beneath her head, curled lightly over her shoulders, spread over one of her arms that was near her left ear. Overall, she looked perfectly fine.

Except that she had no face. What had once been a set of eyes, a nose and a mouth, was now a mound of rotting flesh, blood that was darkened by the crimson light above her.

Heero saw the soldier standing just beyond her, his grin the widest and most ruthless. In his grip was a flaring torch. The sounds of Japan being slaughtered suddenly whisked back to his ears, and he heard the torch-holding soldier laugh nastily. Then he felt murderous heat from the same fire that had killed the woman he'd loved. Tipping his chin up in resign, he chose his last word.

"RELENA!"

And as the flame filled his vision, so did a shadow. A figure, the silhouette of a person. Someone small and weak. Someone that he didn't know.

---

Relena eyes were shining with tears and ferocity. Watching her cousin, she could see him tremble angrily, his hair mussed and his face pale. The overall effect of him was a man gone wild, like a mad dog on the rampage.

"Say again," he murmured, voice deadly, "what you just said."

"I am not going to betray Heero," she told him bravely even as she shook before him. "No matter what you decide to do, I will not betray him."

"How can you care for him, Relena?! He left you! He left you here to die while he went back to the country of fortune and gold. He wanted nothing more than your body." Treize stepped toward her. "He didn't want to share any of his life with you!"

Relena lip curled as the words pricked and stung her. "That isn't true. The things he said to me, he promised me – they weren't lies, Treize. You don't know Heero."

"I know him as the man who seduced my wife and took from me what was rightfully mine!" His voice pitched up a notch. "I know him as the bastard who could betray the country of his own roots and throw it at the feet of American trash! He influenced you to betray me as well." Trieze's hands were fists held close to his sides. "What was promised years ago for us was never to be broken. Relena, you let him make you believe it would not be shameful to forsake your parents' words to mine! That it would not be shameful to tarnish our blood!"

"I do not deny that it may be shameful!" Relena fist went to her throat as if to press down the lump there. "But I do not believe, either, that my family would wish me to be chained to a loveless marriage. Blood is just that – blood! It is not as symbolic as you wish it to be!"

Treize's eyes were wide with disbelief. "You cannot be _saying _this! The traditions we were raised on, do they matter nothing to you? Relena!"

"What matters to me…" Relena swallowed and the tears welled and fell, but she did not sob again. "There is a secret, Treize, that you never could have known of. Here, I have kept it and locked it away from the world so that it might not be reached." Her voice did not quaver. She looked as though in a trance. "The force inside it is a power you'll never know."

He was confused and looked like it. "What are you talking about, Relena? Explain yourself!"

"You'll tell me it's a sin, that it's treason to break the promise my parents made. But Treize, in the face of this, I would sin a hundred more times!" Her eyes never left his. "I survived three years when I wanted to die, because Heero and I were not together. He is all I ever wanted. And since you want so terribly to know why I continued to live in shame…" She took a deep breath. "I will show you." Looking around, she made sure they were alone. Taking a step back, she disappeared into the other room.

Treize could hear a creaky hinge working, and then he heard Relena's voice murmur something softly and tenderly. When he saw her again, she was not alone.

In her arms, there was a small child. A boy, with tufts of thick hair the color of brown walnuts and eyes like Relena's was pressed against his cousin's chest, his face curious and afraid. He knew within an instant that it was hers and Yuy's.

"Look, Treize," she said quietly. "This is my son. He is why I am still living today and talking to you at this moment." Her eyes were full of pity for him, and perhaps for herself and the child. "Now do you understand? _This _is why I must tell you no!"

---

Hilde was not hungry. Duo could see that and he was worried. In the very small kitchen of their New York City apartment, he sat with her at a two-person wooden table and held her hand. She wouldn't even eat the chocolate bar he had bought for her in the square.

"Babe," he murmured, looking at her sad, cornflower-colored eyes. "Talk to me. Why are you being like this, Hilde? You seem so depressed."

Hilde did not raise her eyes from the full plate of stroganoff in front of her. It had long since grown cold. "Don't you realize, Duo? It's been three years since I came here. And today is…"

His fingers tightened over hers. "Hilde, you're stressed. I understand, but starving yourself isn't going to help you feel better."

"Duo! When I think about it, I have no _right _to feel better!" She shot up from her seat and spread out her arms. "Look at me! Look at who I am now!"

Duo did. She was wearing a lavender dress of a fine material. He had bought it for her on their last wedding anniversary, when he had also taken her to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in New York. His job as a journalist for the _New York Times _paid him better than most people. "I see you, Hilde," he replied.

"This is who Relena wanted to be!" she exclaimed. "She wanted to be an American woman, the wife of an American man – Heero's wife! She loved him so much, Duo. Didn't you see that every time they looked at each other?!"

"I saw it," Duo affirmed. "Heero was the exact same way. I watched him suffer for months, babe. He was then like you're being now. And you know that it didn't do him any good, so why should it be different for you? Hilde."

Slowly, she sank back into the chair. He was beside her then, standing over her and pulling her back to lean against his chest. "She was the only friend I had there, Duo. And most of the time I didn't even treat her like one. I just wanted to make sure I beat her to the money. I can't say I was trying to protect her from the men, because that wasn't what I was doing. I was just a selfish bitch!" A hand rose to cover her mouth. "God, Duo."

"Shhh." Duo eyebrows were lowered over his cobalt eyes. The swing in his braid was less jovial. "I know it's painful for you. Babe, it wasn't easy for me either to stand there with you and watch Heero lose Relena. But maybe now, it's starting to _become _easier. For him. He really does love Catherine. I hadn't seen him smile in almost two years when he told me he planned to ask her to marry him." His gut twisted. "But when he told me that, I could tell he felt it was kinda like betrayal. As though he was forgetting her." He looked at the wall beside him. "Maybe he was. Or trying to, anyway. Humans have a natural instinct to forget whatever it is that makes them hurt. Especially Americans. We're used to having our way, so we're weak."

Hilde ran a hand through her hair. It was down her shoulders now. "I'm sorry I behaved like this. I never want to do anything that causes you pain, Duo."

"Babe." He led her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Nothing you do could ever give me pain. In fact…" He genuinely smiled at her. "I want to know something. How do you feel about trying really hard to have kids now? I know we haven't been lucky yet, but…"

Hilde brushed her tears away as a true grin lit up her dollish face. "Oh, Duo! Of course I want to have children with you!" As she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him, another tear rolled from her closed eyes down her cheek – Relena had always wanted children, too.

---

Treize's face was blank as he looked at Relena and the small person held to her. His face had lost any color it might had still clung to earlier, and every part of him was searing hot with nerves and surprise. "What have you done?" he asked quietly. "How long…?"

"Derek," she said. "It's an American name. He will be three years old in a little more than two months."

"Derek," Treize repeated. The name was like vinegar in his mouth. "Relena…" His squeezed his eyes shut violently. "RELENA! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!"

Relena's arms were tight around her son. "Treize. Tell me what you—"

"No one can ever know of him! Those that do must die!" he exclaimed. "That bastard fouls our name!"

"You can't pin the blame on him for something that I let happen!" Relena shouted back. "Look at him, Treize. He is harmless! He can do nothing to threaten you!"

"He already _has_," Treize seethed. "You whored your body to that Jap so you could have this child, didn't you?! To keep away from me!"

"I did nothing of that sort!" When Treize started to walk toward her with an unhealthy gleam coating his eyes, she backed away. "Don't touch my son, Treize!"

"Do you not understand?!" He held out his hands, fingers taught as he half-pleaded to her. "_Can _you not understand? You are my wife, Relena! You have been ever since we were children ourselves! Having that damned man's child will ruin _both _of us, in this world and in the next. God will send us to hell!" One of the quaking hands moved to his belt. "There is nothing else for us to do." From the belt, he pulled a sharp dagger. "This boy is not able to remain alive!" Pointing the blade toward Derek, he stepped forward.

"**_NO_**!" Relena half-dropped Derek to the ground as she blocked him bodily. Treize stopped and in a flash, all of her fear was gone, and her gaze was cool and extremely controlled against Treize's unleashed rage. "You will not touch him."

"You cannot stop me. You are nothing but a woman," he spat. It was too late to hide his true feelings as this point. And Relena was asking for it. "No woman can harm me."

"I will if I have to," she countered. "Don't touch my boy. He's the only reason I live, and I do so _for _him. If there is anything in the past three years that has given me happiness, it is Derek."

"He is my enemy!" exclaimed Treize. "He lures you from me, cousin! You belong to me by law set down years before his existence."

"If time was important to me, do you think I would still be waiting for Heero?" she asked.

"He must be completely erased from our world, Relena. Forget him! He is only a child, and he taints our blood that we agreed would stay European."

"_You _agreed!" Relena shouted. "I _never _wanted to marry you! Nothing you say or feel is going to change that." Her heart began to beat at a wicked tempo that she could practically taste. And reached inside her kimono. Fumbling only slightly, she pulled out the gun Heero had left with her so long ago. She aimed it at Treize's heart.

He sneered at her, contorting his perfect features. "But of course, you have a gun. And now I suppose you're going to use it to kill me? I see it's also an American gun." He shook his head, still holding the knife. "To protect your falsely American son." He took another step.

"Don't touch my little boy!" she repeated furiously. Her face was pink as her hair fell about her shoulder. When Treize took another step, she released the safety on the revolver as she had taught herself. "If I were you, I would not test my will."

"You are so utterly mistaken!" he shouted. "So, so much! Relena, were you never willing to be happy?"

"I _was _happy," she corrected Treize. "With him. I'm warning you," she said when her cousin dared to more closer. "For Derek…"

"You don't even know how to kill. You have always been far too innocent." But even Treize knew that innocence could be blown apart by a strong wind. And he was certainly very strong.

"I'll kill if I feel I must! I'll even kill you, my cousin, I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt him." She felt the tears in her throat but she forced them away from her eyes. "I won't allow him to be hurt."

"Then you mustn't hesitate." Saying this, Treize laughed, and the sound was cold and bitter. "Little Relena Peacecraft, my cousin who would rather pick daisies than play bandit. Well, you're a bandit now, aren't you, Relena? Stealing from me the honor that was to be mine!"

Relena's hand did not waver as she moved the gun to the place between his eyes. She was surprised at how light and warm the steel felt in her palm. Remaining silent, she waited.

She did not wait long. A frightening, animalistic growl tore from Treize's throat as he lifted the knife and dashed forward. She could hear Derek scream. With her free left hand, she stretched out an arm and blocked Treize off from her son. "You will not get to my child!" she swore.

"Go on and shoot away!" he taunted. "He _will _die!"

_I have no other choice_, Relena thought. _What I must do… _Sweat dripped down her face as her fingers and resolve firmed. _I will. _Lowering her hand to Treize's chest, she pulled the trigger.

Blood spread over the front of his uniform. Treize stepped back a few feet, and his grayish eyes met her. Shock was evident on his face, but so was knowledge. Perhaps he had been unsure of whether she could really harm him, her cousin, or not.

"I'll not," he gasped, "stay…away…" His body suddenly crumpled to the ground, and Treize did not move again.

The house was silent for several long moments. Then Relena heard the small voice of Derek whimper behind her. Crouching down, she blocked his view of Treize with her body. "Quick, my son," she murmured, pressing light kisses to his forehead. "Go get the bag." As Derek scrambled away, she turned back to her cousin and kneeled beside his body. For a moment, she held his head in her lap and leaned over it, staring into his lifeless eyes. Tears fell from her face onto his.

"I am sorry, cousin," she murmured. "I am so sorry…" Rising, she met Derek in the other room. There was a small hole in the floor that led to the back of the house. Derek being so small, he fit through it easily. Relena hadn't eaten much of anything in the past three years and managed to squeeze through as well.

Outside, she took the boy's hand and looked back only once at the place she had stayed since the abandonment of the Americans. She would always think of it as only that, never as home. The only place she would call home was where Heero was.

She still wanted very much to go home.

Lifting the bad of emergency items she had stored away for months, she picked up Derek as well and ran into the woods. Some would think of it as running away. Relena thought of it as running home.

---

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	9. To The USA

Here's chapter nine. (Thank you to Alaskantiger for pointing out my Pearl Harbor mistake. I don't know where my head was. It's fixed now.) Although this is not a major chapter, it is necessary. But watch out for ten, because everything's gonna blow sky-high. Please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter Nine

By Gundam Girl

"Mr. Winner, I'm glad you're here. Your paperwork has just finished being drawn up. Oh, and I see you have Mr. Barton with you as well." The young redhead secretary smiled, pulling self-consciously at the sleeves of her pink suit jacket. "That's all the better then." She reached into a drawer of the large mahogany desk she sat at and retrieved a manila envelope. Pulling from it several sheets of paper, she held out two pens. "If both of you will please sign all of these."

"Thank you, Cassandra," Quatre said to the granddaughter of his and Trowa's business attorney. "Is Mr. Vente in today?"

"Not today, sir. He's in Queens on a case for an electric company I can't remember the name of." Her smile turned a little silly. "He asked me to tell you that he wishes you success on your project."

"We want it to work," Trowa replied, handing the pen back to her as he finished scribbling his signature. "It has to. For all those people."

"It's so wonderful. Who would suspect that two men three years out of the military would put together an organization to help immigrants?"

"Well, we're not completely severed from the military," Quatre reminded her gently. "That's how we were able to get governmental backing in the first place. And your grandfather was an enormous help, of course."

"He served America as well, so of course he was willing to help some fellow soldiers."

Trowa and Quatre knew that as well. Vente's brother had died at Germany, thirty minutes after Vente had gotten back to New York City from Germany himself. He had almost immediately resigned from the army, unable to face the horrors of war. He had pursued law, settling down with his wife and having two children. Neither Quatre nor Trowa had imagined that for their selves right away. If either of them did resign in the near future, it would be to totally dedicate themselves to their new project.

The Winner family fortune was more than useful for the finances it took to create this organization. With hundreds of immigrants flocking into the country every year, it was Quatre who had first proposed that help needed to be given to these fresh, confused people. They hoped that people from China, Korea, Ireland, Poland, and anywhere else would be provided with homes and jobs with their assistance.

As they walked out of the Vente Law Firm with bundles of documents, their destination the temporary office of the apartment they shared, Quatre's brows lowered over his kind eyes. "Do you think this'll work, Trowa?"

"I'm hoping to God it will. There's too many people who think they're coming to a rich country and end up poorer than church mice." His cool green eyes met his friend's. "We have to fix that."

"Yeah." Quatre nodded absently. "I was thinking… Could we ask Heero to help?"

Trowa seemed surprised, and little shook the tall Barton. "Well… I don't know. Heero has a pretty steady job now. And Catherine's nursing job pays better than usual, so I don't really think it's necessary—"

"Maybe not for his life, Trowa, but what about his heart? He's not fully recovered from Relena's… From Relena," he amended. "He might not ever be. Don't you think this would help him out a bit?"

"No," Trowa answered solidly without any hesitance whatsoever. The bluntness caught Quatre off guard, and the partners stopped in the middle of the bustling New York City street. "I think it would only hurt him more. How could we ask him to help others when he didn't get to help the one person he wanted to the most?"

Quatre's hand fisted around the handle of his briefcase. "There's always a part of me that's never going to not think it wasn't partially our fault. If we hadn't held him back then—"

"The only thing we would have succeeded in doing was letting him die out there, too. We saved his life, Quatre." Trowa's voice, however, sounded a little low, as though he was still convincing himself of this. He was.

"But at least they'd have died together! He _loved _her." Quatre stamped one of his feet, almost kicking a teenager skateboarding by. "And she loved him. In such a short time, I don't know how it happened, but it _did_."

"Then maybe they weren't really in love," Trowa said quietly.

"Oh, come on, it's been three years. And look at Duo and Hilde!"

Trowa's chest tightened. "This isn't the place to discuss this. If you think we should ask someone, I'm sure Wufei wouldn't mind putting in an effort. He was an immigrant once too."

Quatre wanted to "discuss" (vent) more about Heero and Relena, but he sighed. He had a project to focus on. "You're right. And I know Sally would like to help too."

"She works with Catherine, so it won't be hard to contact them. Let's call him tonight."

"All right." Quatre continued on his way with the taller man, but he shoved his free hand into his pocket dejectedly. There was so much left unsaid about the past…so much ignored. Relena's death had just been swept aside from their lives. All except for, he had little doubt, Heero's.

---

Howard hated the sea air. Well, he hated the sea. The sea took people places on little boats of dreams. Placed like America, and he was the one not on the ride. So the sea air constantly reminded that by scent, even if we wasn't looking at the grayish water.

Unfortunately, the ocean town close to his sister's house was the only place he had to stay at for right now. And what little business it provided was necessary. The two girls he had hired were in appointments right now, so he was strolling the streets, looking for possible workers. There weren't many here – most of them were at Nibiki's. Damn his sister's gentle heart. She knew nothing of professionalism.

He passed fisherman, sailors, and women with baskets of flowers for sale. Howard took pride in that the kind of flower he sold so expertly was not the kind you merely sniffed and admired the prettiness of.

"Howard! _Howard!_"

Were one of those scrawny brats finished already? It had only been twenty minutes or so… With a sigh, Howard turned to face whichever working girl had come to gripe, and saw Relena hurrying to him, her face perspiring and pale.

"Howard," she gasped as she neared him. "Treize is dead."

Behind his dark sunglasses, his eyes widened to an amazing circumference.

"He was going to kill my baby!" she pleaded. "And…I shot!"

"You did _what_?" Heart jumping and knowing he was getting too old for it, Howard backed away from the golden-haired girl and saw the child clinging to her side. "Who is that?" He tore his eyes back up to Relena's face. "No way, hon. You'll be followed, and there's no way in hell I'm going to get caught up in you murdering Treize Khushrenada – for Chrissake! This is good-bye." He turned on his sandaled heel, but Relena caught his shoulder.

"But we have to leave!" Relena protested. "We have to go, now! Derek and I must set off for America _tonight_!"

"Derek? Is that the name of this brat? When the hell did you have a kid?" Howard was still full of incredulousness. "And what, just like that, do you expect me to rig you up some tickets for passage to the States?"

"Please," Relena cried, half-sobbing. "You're the only one who can do it. Lie, cheat… But he can't die, Howard, Derek can't die here like this."

"Tell me how you think I'm the one to manage this," Howard requested tesily. "And while you're at it, tell me why in the world I should, _Princess_." The last world was snarled out.

The tears spilled down Relena's white cheeks, but she wiped them away. "Every day, every second," she revealed to Howard, her heart straining with each word, "I hear my marine telling me to bring him his son."

Every piece of contempt inside Howard lay down and died. Slowly, he crouched down on the gravel street, and removed his sunglasses. Wonder was in his gaze as he peered into the face of the dark-haired boy with the shy countenance. He could see the European – his mouth Relena's and must of his complexion was as well. He had his mother's hands, long-fingered and slim, most of which from caused by starvation. But the hair, the shape of his eyes, the line of his nose – that was Japanese. But what convinced him were the eyes – the blue that was too dark to come from Relena and too light to be Japanese.

"What are you saying?" Howard half-whispered. "That this boy is…"

"Heero Yuy's child, the son of a US sergeant." Relena's voice trembled. She lifted Derek up into her arms and pressed her lips to his forehead.

"Let me see him, let me see him!" Howard implored, and the mother reluctantly passed the boy to him. Howard held him up so that they were eye-to-eye. Derek stared at him curiously, and a grin spread over the elder man's paper-like face. "Relena," he stated, "this bastard is the most beautiful sight I've ever seen."

Relena pressed a hand over her mouth, too overcome by too many emotions. Disgust at Howard for looking over her son like he was an item, love from the bottom of her heart that still belonged to the man who had helped make him…

"Don't you understand?" Howard asked excitedly. "He is… He's a _passport_! Right here, in my very hands." He gave Derek a little shake. "This child is American! They'll have to let us inside the country!"

She inhaled sharply. "Is that true?"

"As true as my blood runs through my veins," Howard replied. "Oh, Relena! Relena!" Like the old days, the wheels in his head turned and worked fiercely, planning and plotting. "Listen closely – you and I, we are half-siblings. You must tell yourself it, Relena, you must believe it! Your father married my mother, a geisha – now, don't give me that look, _believe _it! You cannot tell a good lie unless you convince yourself that the lie is true."

"Howard," Relena said nervously. "I've never fooled the government, I don't think—"

"Do you want to go ahead and tell them that you shot one of their commanding officers and he lies dead now? Or do you want your son to group up in golden streets, playing with other children who are as happy as he deserves to be?" As expected, Howard's words had the desired effect, and Relena sobered immediately.

"I want him to be with his father. I want to see my husband again."

"Of course you do! Now, you leave everything to me!" With glee, Howard returned Derek to his mother's arms. "Care for him well, Relena, and don't let him out of your sight!"

"I won't," she promised, with hardened resolve.

"Meet me back here in exactly four hours – a ship embarks for Morocco then." A fevered gleam covered Howard's bared eyes. "I will get you and your son to the USA, Relena. I swear it as a man." Just like he swore to get himself there as well. He slipped his glasses back on, and stumbled back a bit when Relena suddenly put Derek down and flung her arms around him.

Howard stood stock-still. It had been a long time since he had been embraced by anyone.

Relena pulled back, tears wetting her face in addition to the joy lighting it. "I can't thank you enough. I'll never be able to!"

"Never mind that," he said, his tone softer than usual. Perhaps a mother's relief was getting to him. Something. "Be here in four hours."

"I will. I promise. Derek!" Relena swept the boy up. "Do you hear, Derek? This man is taking us home!"

Derek seemed to understand somewhat. He murmured "mama" to Relena and hugged her with his little body, a smile bright on his face. Relena sighed with gratitude that he had not yet lost that smile.

She made a vow then and there that he never would.

---

Sally was smiling as she stepped out the delivery room. Stripping off her used latex gloves, she tossed them in a trashcan and went to the front desk a few corridors away. "Prepare all of Mrs. Morgan's release papers, Catherine. She'll be out of here by noon tomorrow."

"Did the birth go well?" Catherine asked brightly, shuffling through a filing cabinet and sticking the papers in her typewriter obligingly.

"Like a miracle – as always. A boy, eight pounds, fifteen ounces… Jonathan Christopher Morgan, flaming red hair. He's beautiful." Sally poured herself a cup of water from the dispenser in front of the receptionist desk. "You should go see him when you go on break."

"I will. I love babies." Catherine drank from her own mug of coffee, her face lit with happiness for the new parents in the closest room.

Sally tilted her head, considering her fellow nurse's words. "So you've said hundreds of times. Cathy…why haven't you and Heero had children yet? You told me he said he'd like them one day. And it's been two years. And I _know _you want kids."

"I—I do!" Catherine busied herself, typing ever faster, ducking down her head to hide how her gray eyes had dimmed. "It's just… It's not happened yet. We're… We've made love, of course, Sally, dozens of times…"

"Dozens? In two years, only dozens?"

"Well, these things don't happen every day." Catherine paused. "Ah, well. I guess they do, but not to everyone in New York City."

"Being in New York City has nothing to do with it," Sally smiled. "Honey, do you want help? If you'd like, I can prescribe you some—"

"I don't think that's necessary. I guess God just isn't ready for us to have children yet, and honestly…" She lifted her shoulder. "I don't think Heero and I are either." The shoulders slackened again.

"You?" Sally made a sound of disbelief that sounded incredibly like her fiancée of three years. "What are you talking about? You're the ready-for-anything person." She aimed skeptical eyes at the auburn-haired woman.

"Maybe. Not with him. You should know love makes people a little crazy."

Sally's heart skipped slightly as she thought of Wufei. "Yeah," she muttered, tucking her clipboard under her arm. "Tell me the hell about it."

Catherine grinned. "Trowa tells me you two have another date planned."

"We were discussing August," Sally sighed. "Or November. Wufei does like the fall…"

"Wufei liked the fall last year, and the year before that, _and _the year before that. I say you two just elope already and be done with it." Catherine stood up. "Well, here are your papers." She ripped them from the typewriter and handed them to her superior. "Give my regards to Mr. Morgan."

"I'll do that. Don't work too long, Cathy, we close up in an hour." New documents in hand, the Asian woman turned to go back to the happy mother's room. "Then you can go home and try the baby thing with Heero again, huh?" She wiggled her brows and was off.

Cathy smirked, shaking her head, but the smile faded as soon as her friend was out of sight. Sally knew nothing of the problems at home. No one did. Hell, Heero didn't even know all that much of it.

She made it home that night two hours later. When she walked in the door of the apartment, she thought Heero was still working late at the insurance office that had hired him three years ago, even back when he was still a depressed war survivor. Yet there was one light on, and she found her husband sitting in the armchair, the dim lamp glowing over his head, and a book in his hand.

Seeing him there, her heart did a flip. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed about being married to a man she truly loved with all of her heart. Now that she was, she was a happy woman. She had a job she enjoyed in a city she adored. She was in love with a man who was pleased to be sitting quietly at home with a novel.

So why did her soul feel like it might crack at any second?

Heero's head rose from facing his book, and his lips smiled at her – but his eyes were as expressionless as ever. With his deep voice, he welcomed her. "Hey, Cathy."

Catherine let out a small sigh. Setting down her purse, she crossed the room to him and hugged his head, pressing it against her chest, and kissing the top of his unruly brown hair.

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask with sincere concern.

"Yes. I'm fine." Catherine felt his strong hand rest over hers atop the arm of the chair. "I love you, Heero."

As always, he only held her hand tighter. It took him several moments, but he managed – he always managed. "I love you, too."

She told him she was tired and she wanted a shower. As she stepped under the stream of warm water, she comforted herself with the fact that he had never felt her tears.

---

"You want to what?" Wufei asked into the phone.

"No, we don't want to," Trowa corrected him. "We're going to do the organization we told you about. And we'd really like it if you helped out."

His mouth full of instant mashed potatoes, Quatre called, "Pwease!"

Trowa nodded. "Please."

Wufei sighed. "And this will be when?"

"We want to appeal to the New York governor before the end of next month," Trowa told him firmly.

"Are you serious?"

"There's no sense in beating around bush. We have a point to make."

Wufei smiled. "I think I'd hate myself forever if I couldn't help a kid I was just like once. Meet me at Central Park tomorrow morning. I want to hear about your plans."

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Review please! (Next chapter is going to be intense!)


	10. You Have A Son

Ah, we've hit 10, and there's still a few more chapters to go. I want to thank everyone who's stuck with me on this; of course, the bigger, more heartfelt gratitude will come at the end of the fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Miss Saigon.

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter 10

By Gundam Girl

The ship Howard had found going to Morocco wasn't old, but it was inexpensive; made of wood, it jostled horribly on every other wave. At least, that was what it felt like to Relena as she sat below deck, pressed up against one cold, rough wall with Derek sleeping in her arms. Many of the people on board were people who had fled the surrounding areas of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which had been bombed last year. She could remember the horror of the American planes scoring the sky with their white lines of smoke.

Her son had a fever. He had been ill for the past month and a half, since the day after they had gotten on this godforsaken boat. And though Howard said that they would arrive in Morocco in less than a week, Relena worried. Derek would probably be all right – a doctor on the ship had inspected him. But there was not enough fresh water to dampen a cloth and cool his head with, so Relena had resorted to stealing it every night and once in the afternoon. She just went to the barrels on deck and dipped the cloth in, then returned to Derek below. It rained much, too, and she used that as well.

She didn't sleep much. She only got about four hours a day, unlike Howard. The only thing _he _did was sleep. No one on the ship had been able to take a bath since before embarking, and the stench was overwhelming.

Her only comfort was that, while they waited for another ship at Morocco, there would be work for her. Howard had admitted that it would be the same work as she had taken under him three years ago, but Morocco had methods of preventing pregnancy. Relena couldn't have been more grateful for that. There was no way, she thought, that she would put another innocent child in a hellish situation like this.

She looked down into Derek's resting face, and her heart clenched. He really did look so much like Heero. And because he did, it gave her dreams. She dreamt of her husband, and the visions were so real that sometimes she woke up, reaching for him.

But he wasn't there. He hadn't been there for three years. When the dream cleared, she wasn't in Heero's arms. She wasn't feeling Heero's kisses. She was alone, with no one but her love's son to care for, instead of being cared for herself.

However, Relena reminded herself with a smile, Heero _would _be there. It didn't matter if it was a week or months before she saw him, simply knowing that she would definitely be reunited with him spirited her and made her strong. And she had to be strong.

If she weren't strong, then Derek would die.

And Derek was _not _going to die.

Sometimes she wondered if Heero had been a dream, if all the pleasure and laughter he had brought her wasn't just a warped fantasy of an equally warped mind. They had been torn apart such a long time ago that small bits of memories were beginning to slip, like how his deep chuckle had stirred her heart and how his promises of seeing New York City had excited her. Or how easily he had rendered her helpless with just the lightest of touches.

But she knew, of course, that had hadn't been a dream. With Derek sturdy and real in her arms, her son acted as soon that Heero Yuy had loved her. Still loved her.

And that's why he would live, no matter what measures were necessary. Her son was going to know his father, the same love Heero had given her. Even if she had to give her own life…it would happen.

Relena closed her eyes. Seeing Heero in her mind's eye, she fell into the little sleep she was able to get.

---

_Three weeks later._

New York City's town hall was crowded with many lawyers, politicians, and military representatives. Rumors and whispers buzzed like so many flies through the hall, making Quatre feel more nervous than he'd thought he would.

"Today's the day," he said to Trowa and Wufei, he stood with him on the small stage in front of the crowd. He glanced over the guests and saw that Heero and Catherine were in the front row. He smiled and nodded to them.

Trowa saw them too and frowned. "Was he supposed to be here?"

"I don't think he'd miss it," Wufei told him. He then added in a lower voice, making sure Quatre couldn't hear. "Perhaps it's for the better. I think I'll meet with him after the presentation. Are the slides ready?" he asked Quatre, louder now.

"Of course." He flipped on a projector next to him, lighting up a large white sheet that spread over the wall behind him. The crowd began to settle down.

Trowa stepped up to the podium in the middle of the stage, Quatre near him, operating the projector, and Wufei on his other side, observing the guests. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said into the microphone on the podium. "You have come here today to witness what Mr. Winner, Mr. Chang, and myself feel is a very important issue in today's society.

It is 1946, and our country is in the process of recovering from a war, and many immigrants and flowing into the States; most of them are even from the countries we _attacked_. Yes, the topic I wish to breach today is the heartlessness, necessary or unnecessary, we used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Many of the people rose from their chairs, began shouting protests, but Trowa and Wufei raised their hands and asked to be allowed to finish before any statements were made. Out of the corner of his eye, Trowa saw Heero's face tense up. Though Relena had not been in either of the two placed that had been bombed, he knew that Heero was considering the possibility of her having been killed in a U.S. attack.

"What I am going to say," Trowa went on, "is not about the actions of the bombings, but the results of them. In Japan, many soldiers were ordered to lay low near the oceans and work on investigation. Mr. Winner, Mr. Chang, and myself were a few of those soldiers. While there, we, and men like us took advantage of the lower-degree country and the people. We threw dollars at them, and the Japanese grabbed them up, eager for money whether they could use it or not. We eagerly succumbed to what they offered us, a special feature being the masses of Asian and European prostitutes settled there.

"And, as you all know, we were forced to make a quick getaway in helicopters out of Japan because the government considered these hosting villages as traitors and liars. But what choice did we give them? Were they to simply refuse us, the higher-class soldier, whatever it was we wanted? No, they couldn't do that," Trowa said, his tone firm. "Because they are scrambling for a living out there. They are desperate to go on in the world in whatever way they can. So, whether these women wished to or not – and I dare say that many didn't wish to – they coupled with us. And, as you may have guessed, they have had our children." He nodded to Quatre.

Behind them, a slide covered the white screen, and the massive image of a little girl no more than four or five stared at the guests. Some gasped. The girl was half-starved, her eyes big and dark. Her hair was strawberry blond, and her face wasn't the least bit Asian with the exception of the color of her skin.

Another slide appeared; two children this time, two boys, were sitting on the rocky ground, gathering water from mud puddles into bottles for themselves. The next slide showed another boy, shirtless, his ribs countable from the picture that had been taken ten feet away.

There was another buzz of conversation in the crowds, many bursting out with rage and insistence that the photographs were inappropriate for discussing a war bravely fought.

"We are not discussing the war," Trowa said loudly into the microphone and the group began to settle again. "We are discussing what the soldiers fighting the war brought. We created these helpless children, gentlemen, and we are doing _absolutely nothing _for them. Consider these Asian-American children mistakes if you think that's what they are, but even mistakes need to be rectified. We cannot simply walk around pretending that what happened with women in Japan was not real.

"Something must be done. Like it or not," said Trowa, his eyes meeting as many of the guests as they could, "these are all our children. And we are leaving them to die. I'm like you; out in that foreign land, I thought that once I got home, I would forget everything I saw there. I didn't think I'd give a damn. But I do. I have to." He gestured toward the pictures, more slides being shown, all of them horrifying to the privileged citizens of the U.S.A. "Help me help them. Help me try to."

With that, the projector shut off, and the haunting, American faces disappeared. Trowa stood with Wufei and Quatre on stage, staring down the crowd. There was silence in the town hall.

But then someone began to clap. It wasn't Heero, because Quatre checked. Heero was sitting there, staring at the now-blank screen. His eyes were wide and glassy. Quatre returned his gaze to the others and saw that the one clapping was their attorney, Vente. Others soon began to join in the applause, and then the whole hall was ringing to the claps and murmurs of appreciative men, and one or two women.

Wufei's eyes caught movement at the front. Heero and Catherine were going. Leaving the recognition and offers of help from the crowd to Trowa and Quatre, he quickly left the stage and followed the pair outside.

Once on the street, Wufei saw that Heero was standing by himself.

"Your presentation was…great," Heero said, faltering slightly in his resolve.

"Where's Catherine?" he asked, looking around.

"I sent her home. I needed to talk to you privately, or so you said on the phone." Heero eyed his friend with some mistrust. "What was it you said you could only tell me?"

Wufei winced slightly. Now that he was standing here, he hadn't exactly thought about how to tell Heero what he wanted to say. "When Trowa, Quatre, and I were putting this thing together, we did a lot of research on where immigrants were going if it wasn't America. There have been several groups sailing to Morocco. They get there by ship first, and then they get on another ship and sail here. In fact, we have a small volunteer staff in Morocco. Reports are sent to our office."

Heero remained silent, so Wufei continued.

"We process problems on their behalf. Heero…" He took a deep breath. "We received a letter about—"

"Relena." Heero stared straight into Wufei's shocked, almond-shaped eyes. "Well, isn't that right?"

Wufei stuffed his hands in his pockets. "A week ago, it came in. Trowa and I'd have told you earlier, but we wanted to clear this presentation first before we would start worrying for you. Quatre doesn't know; we didn't think he'd be able to keep it from you."

Heero stared past Wufei at a tree planted at the end of the sidewalk. "You know what I went through, Wufei. Every day for a whole year, I tried to get word." His eyes snapped to the Chinese man's. "First, tell me this, before anything else. Tell me…did she survive?" His fists were closed and near his sides.

"You really should read the report, Heero." Wufei sighed. "But yes. Relena is alive."

The news hit Heero like a blow to the face. He even staggered backwards a few steps. "This is…real?" At Wufei's grim nod, he inhaled shakily. "You can't imagine, Wufei, the nightmares I've had about her. I run through streets, over and around people. I can hear her screaming, screaming out my name, but I can't find her. Then I run into Fair View, and she's there, she's…she's dead. Her face is burned off, like those who got bombed in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. And the guy holding the torch is usually with the Japanese, but sometimes…" He whispered, "Sometimes it's me."

Wufei's eyes narrowed. "Stop it, Yuy. That's your mind making a fool out of you."

"Maybe," he said. He saw the trepidation in Wufei's eyes. "What is it?" His own gaze firmed. "What else, Wufei? There's more. I can tell that there's more to this than just Relena's survival."

"Yes." Wufei glanced away, but just for a moment. "Relena…just a little over three years ago. She…"

"She what?" Heero demanded. "Tell me about Relena!"

"She has a child," Wufei told him hastily, his voice stiff. "Heero…it's yours. You have a son."

He didn't move. He couldn't even breathe. Heero just stood there, staring at his war comrade as though he had vanished into thin air. Heero wished _he _could vanish. As affected as he was by Wufei's words, the surprise wasn't as great as it would have been if…

If not for those nightmares.

"I don't think you'll believe me, let alone understand me, Wufei, but…I knew it. I knew about him." Heero exhaled a great, shuddering sigh. He ran a trembling hand through his thick hair. "I dreamed of him. He's in the nightmare of Relena, just after I die, too."

Heero turned, paced away, then came back to see Wufei standing stock still, watching him. The other man no doubt thought that he was going crazy. "Jesus, Wufei! I got married!" In denial, he asked quietly, "Can what you're saying be actually real?"

Wufei shook his head, feeling sorry for his friend. "I'm only telling you what we were told. Our reports haven't proved false yet, Heero. Relena's a bar girl in Morocco. She's working with a Hidaki Tomoya. I think that may be the guy who called himself Howard, who you paid for Relena." He paused, seeing the anguish in Heero's eyes. "Look, I can imagine how you're feeling but—"

"You cannot!" exclaimed Heero, backing away from Wufei. "This is…this whole thing… I should never have left her! And now…" He shook his head violently. "It's too late. I have this life in American now. I loved Relena, I was so in love with her, Wufei!" His voice held so much passion, but in it was a tinge of reality. "But now, there's Catherine. My wife, Catherine," he murmured.

"Listen, Heero. I understand that this whole revelation is a huge shock," Wufei told him honestly. "But we've dealt with cases like this before. You remember Jonathan Picket? Same case, and he's got this half-Japanese girl living with him now. See? There are solutions here." He added encouragingly, "It isn't always bad."

"Wufei," he groaned, pressing the palms of his hands to his eyes. "God! I never told her!"

"Told her? Told her what? Relena—"

"Not Relena," said Heero. "Relena heard everything that I ever felt about at the time. I'm talking about Cathy. She doesn't know much of anything about when I was in Japan. She doesn't even know that I _talked _to any woman there, let alone fell in love with Relena!" His voice held a tone of panic. "How the hell could I tell her now, after we've been married for three years?" He put a fist to his mouth, bit down on the knuckle. "A child," he muttered, more to himself than to the Chinese man. "What can I do?" He met Wufei's eyes again. "What I did to Relena… It must have shattered her, Wufei. I can't possibly do the same thing to Cathy."

Wufei watched as Heero paced around, turning circles, straining at the bit. "We've watched couples work through this," he said, attempting to be careful. "The three of us are learning good methods of coping. I think," he said slowly, "that you should both come to Morocco with me. Catherine too."

Heero stopped and looked at Wufei in surprise. "Us both? Is that really a good idea?"

Wufei nodded his confirmation. "Yes. You both should go. Trust me, it's for the best. You have to understand each other's feelings in this matter."

Heero stood still for a second, then he, too, nodded. "I guess you're right. But first…" His shoulders sagged, and he inhaled another ragged breath. "I can't leave her in the dark anymore. Before we leave, Catherine has to know."

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Told ya it would be intense. I'm predicting that there won't be more than three chapters left to this story. Please review, as we're growing closer to the end!


	11. Know The Story

Wow, are we ever drawing closer to the end. Those who know the story that this is based off of are probably agonizing right now. But please stick with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, Madame Butterfly, or Miss Saigon.

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter 11

By Gundam Girl

In a little room, in a little shack, with her son sleeping between her arms, Relena dreamed of frightful things; of fire and blood and smoke and death.

One death in particular.

The sound of helicopter blades deadened any other sounds the images might carry; she saw the same crowd of panicked people that had been at the gates of the U.S. base in Japan. Fingers clawed at her hair, drawing her behind them so _they _could be closer to the gate, closer to freedom and safety. More than once or fingers shivered over the trigger of the black-as-coal gun in her hand, ready to shoot. She was terrified, but she _would _shoot if it meant going with Heero.

Oh, Lord, where _was _Heero? In the back of her dream state's mind, she knew he was in one of those helicopters launching off of the base. She thought she heard his voice scream out her name, but the helicopters were so loud…

And then a laugh came, and it was louder than the engines or the blades, and slowly the roar of helicopters died away, and the laugh continued. It wasn't Heero's laugh. It wasn't even her own laugh.

The whole terrible scene suddenly dissolved to black, and what replaced it was the figure of a man. A man with fine, brown hair lightened by the sun, with eyes like icy water deep in the sea. His features were sharp and suggested wealth; his uniform of the Japanese army suggested strength and power. And the sneer his fine lips was curled into suggested hatred.

"So," he said softly, still chuckling a bit, "you really thought I'd done away." He raised a hand, pointed to his own chin. "This is the face of your cousin, Relena. The cousin who loved you. The cousin who would have set you free and made you fly. The cousin…" He stepped forward, closer and closer to her vision. "That you killed."

Relena, having a dream body of her own now, stepped away. "You're dead."

"Oh, I am? Maybe by the daylight, yes. In the day, you're safe. But here, in your thoughts, in the dark, I will rise to see you. I will come to tell you, to remind you of what you've done. For you've tried to forget," he murmured. "Tried to forget you murdered, but you _did_.

"You hid my voice to protect your son, and stopped my heart to save him. Would you forget that you spilled older blood of yours to defend the newer?"

Relena squeezed her eyes shut. "No… No, Trieze, I can't bear it."

"Bear what? Can't you bear seeing me? Oris what you cannot bear the fact that the father of the son you saved cares nothing for him – or for you? Can you not bear how he deserted you to die so he could survive for his own sake? How he never, _ever _loved you?"

"You're lying!" she sobbed, pressing her hands to her ears.

"Then I'll keep lying," he whispered, close enough now to touch the side of her face, lift some of her hair between his fingers. "Every single night until, somehow, your torture ends. What if he takes you back somehow?" He barked out a harsh, cold laugh. "If he does, I'll leave you alone, Relena. Then you can bury me forever. But…" He suddenly gripped a handful of hair and tugged, and she cried out. "But he never will!"

Relena burst from sleep and breathed heavily. Next to her, Derek stirred. Staring at the canopy of her bed, she worked to slow her heartrate.

Dreams, she thought. Merely dreams and memories. They couldn't hurt her. And they couldn't hurt her son.

But well into the night, she sobbed silently for the loss of her cousin and her love.

---

Sitting in the cozy armchair of their apartment that Heero usually preferred to read in, Catherine had her legs locked together, her hands trembling in tight fists on her eyes. She was staring at the back of her fingers, her eyes narrowed and shining the slightest bit with unshed tears.

It was…hard to believe. It was certainly hard to understand. But it was true. Heero, Trowa, Wufei, and now Quatre had confirmed it. Her husband was the father of a child that wasn't hers. There was a small person, a small life in Morocco waiting for the man she loved.

She took a deep breath and looked up. Heero had invited Duo and Hilde over so that Hilde might hear the fact about her friend from Japan being alive. Hilde was shaking all over, practically convulsing as tears streamed down her face, wetting Duo's shirt as the braided man held his wife to his muscled chest.

Catherine's fingers dug deeper into the flesh of her palms. Hilde was two months pregnant, and she still remained only one person instead of two. She could understand the woman's sorrow – she'd known this Relena woman, after all. But Catherine was the one who had been forced to hear the foreign name in the throes of Heero's fitful sleep.

"But I thought she was _dead_!" Hilde exclaimed, choking on her own gasp. "My God, three years! She's been alone three years, and with a _child_… She must think we all abandoned her!"

"Maybe," Quatre intoned. "That's been the feelings of a lot of people we've met who were stranded in Japan."

"But others haven't been angry," Trowa added as gently as he could from his leaning stance by the door. "Some have just been too relieved to get to America, at last."

Heero stood just behind Catherine with his hands on her shoulders. "I know I should have told you…at least mentioned it somehow. And I'll understand if you decide against going to Morocco with me." But his fingers shook against Catherine's skin; he didn't want to go through with this by himself.

Catherine turned to look up at him, and her eyes were passionate. "You're right, Heero. You really _should _have told me. Did you think I'd turn you away? Even I've got skeletons in the closet."

Heero looked away from her fierce gaze. He honestly didn't know what he'd thought at the time, or even what he was thinking now. Just like two years ago, his mind was once again swamped with memories of Relena: her smile, the sound of her laugh like the tinkling of silver bells, the softness of her skin and hair, her whisperings of "I love you"… It was almost too much for Heero to keep standing with those thoughts curling round his brain.

"But," Catherine went on, seeing the lack of focus in his eyes; she was losing him to the Japan of three years ago. "But, Heero, don't think that I'm going to let you face this alone. Who would be able to do that? You're strong, dear, but you aren't Superman." Her hand rubbed his on her shoulder, and his eyes flicked back to hers. "I'm staying with you."

Wufei, Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Hilde – a group that, to Catherine, was exclusive and against her presence – watched as the married pair embraced tightly. Heero set his chin on top of Catherine's soft hair.

"We'll go together," Catherine murmured, stroking Heero's back in small circles. "To Morocco."

_To meet Relena. And…your son._

---

Casablanca, Howard had decided on his and Relena's first day in Morocco, was nowhere near as profitable as anywhere in Japan. With the sun and dust everywhere, no one was really inclined to a hot bout of sex, much less willing to pay lots of money for it. All the men knew if they wanted a woman's body, they could just go home, rouse their wives, and close their eyes as they pretended to make love to someone else.

And besides, in a major city, there were pimps and whores _everywhere_; a club full of them was nothing special. He wasn't even in charge! He was getting paid to bark out for a fat bastard who took the women who worked for him without paying a dime.

So far, Relena hadn't done much work. Howard had been forced to rely on the talents of far less attractive women for the past month or so. A hand job or a massage every now and then, and the rest of her time she devoted to her kid. He'd been feeding all three of them, and just barely. And it was getting tougher. His boss was getting wise, suspecting that he and Relena weren't related at all. The kid, and the fact that Sergeant Yuy was partially Japanese, was their only angle.

If Relena would only pull her weight! It was an exhausting thought that hit him multiple times every day. He could sell her pale skin and blond hair for more than three times what he was paid at the end of every week. Damn, when was that fucking embassy an annoying businessman had spoken to him about going to act and get them the hell out of this sandbox?!

Not anytime soon, he was fairly sure. A group of gentlemen were strolling by, cheap wooden pipes smoking in their mouths, with their dumb eyes glancing at the whore shack behind him.

"Gentleman!" he exclaimed in the little bit of Spanish he'd picked up. "Come in…see girls. Yes?"

The only reply he got was for one of them to spit tobacco on his sandaled feet. Disgusted, Howard cried out in rage and kicked at the air, but the sticky substance had no mind to leave his toes.

"Hey, you! Japan man!" As though a string of bad luck was pulling in one disaster after another, a burly brown man wobbled over to Howard, griping out English. "I said you could stay if you do me some work! I ain't gettin' no customers!"

"They're on their way," Howard assured him. "They come out at night."

"You been sayin' that for _three weeks_." The man shoved a purdgy, threatening index finger up close to Howard's face. "I want my cash. I don't get it, you and your sister gonna be outta here like _that_." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

"Yes, sir," Howard replied instantly. With a displeased grunt, the man swiveled and dragged his girth back inside. "Well, happy days," the sunglasses-wearing man muttered, making a face at the shack.

"Hidaki Tomoya?"

The name had cold spearing into the old man's heart, but he turned around with a smile. "Sorry," he began, "my name's Howard…"

The cold ended. His heart just stopped all together.

"Jesus Christ!" he half-shouted. "I don't believe it. Wufei-san!"

Wufei's Chinese eyes subtly critiqued the Japanese pimp. "Hello, Howard." His tobacco-covered foot did little to impress him. "Good haul today?"

Howard rolled his eyes. "You couldn't believe the torture out here! Japan was so much richer in horny men. I made good money, Wufei-san, you bet. Here, there's no interest!" He paused in his short rant to eye the other Asian pointedly. "While you're here, would you like—"

"No," Wufei cut in. "I'm here on business."

Howard merely sighed. "It was worth a try. Well, what _can _I do for you? If someone from my lousy past is going to appear, I might as make it worth something."

"Actually, I'm—"

"Howard! I need to speak with you!" Wufei looked up to see a faint figure of his memory racing from the shack toward them. "The boss is throwing a fit. He's saying he's…" Relena's eyes darted momentarily to Wufei, and her tongue stilled. A quaking hand went first to her mouth, then slid down her throat until it rested over her heart.

"_Wufei_!"

Wufei had never heard his name said quite like that before. Recognition, desperation, hopefulness, and joy all filled the two syllables. It was enough to make him wish he had never been so hateful when Duo and Heero had brought Hilde and Relena back with them those many, many months ago. He had Sally. Relena had no one, although she didn't know that yet.

That was why he was here, however.

Heero had lost face when the plane had landed. He still wanted to see Relena, but only if she wanted to see him…after she found out that he was married to someone else. Wufei, the only one of his friends with him besides Catherine, had been given no choice but to come see Relena and deliver the news himself.

"Wufei," Relena repeated. Her hands leapt out, and he instinctively took them. Her grip was so tight. "What on earth are you doing here?! When did you—"

From behind her, a native man who looked far less than sober slid a hand around her waist. He murmured something in Spanish that he most likely found endearing. Face pale and disgusted, she batted at his hands until he stumbled back.

"Got off me! We're through here!"

His eyes cleared for a second. "Whores deciding what's what, now?" he slurred in accented English. "We really did get hit with the future."

Relena watched in anger as the drunk walked off. Wufei eyes never left her, and she softened somewhat as she turned back to him. There was a different quality to her now, he acknowledged. Her eyes held resolve and fierce protectiveness.

Of course, she had been a mother on her own in a harsh Asian land for the past three years. Conditions like that would harden anyone – and Relena's emotions had always been double anyone else's.

"I just came," Wufei told her in answer to her fast questions. He glanced about, noticed how eagerly Howard watched them. "Is there anywhere we can speak in private?"

Relena nodded. Keeping one of her hands in his, she began to lead him away.

Howard tapped his shoulder as he went by, grinning. "Are you sure you don't want to try a bit of—"

"_Positive_," growled Chang impatiently.

She led her old acquaintance up to the second floor of the shack, into a room with a door made of warped wood. The whole room smelled of musk, but it was cleaner than the rest of the place had been. Or perhaps it only looked clean because of the sparseness to it. He took in the sight with a patient gaze.

Then his slanted eyes landed on the bed. It had a thin curtain hanging around it, and he could only see shadowy outlines of what was behind. A particular lump caught his attention.

"There is something I should show you, Wufei." As Relena spoke, she moved toward the bed with a smile on her face; still pretty, Wufei thought. She'd known such mistreatment over the years, but she had been able to retain her pleasant looks. "It's a secret I've been keeping for so long." Her expression gloomed a bit. "With so much difficulty."

Wufei watched with keen interest as she pulled back the curtain. A sleeping form lie there, his chocolate hair thick and unruly. His eyes were closed, but Wufei had a feeling they'd look like Heero's. The boy was almost identical to his friend.

The boy stirred. He didn't roll over or yawn; the sides of his mouth simply curved up. Shock entered the ex-soldier's system.

"His name's Derek. Look at him, Wufei," she murmured. "This is his son. Don't they have the same smile?" She pressed a delicate hand to the boy's head, caressing it. "He's been waiting for his father since the day he was born."

With those words, duty shoved its way to the forefront, and Wufei suddenly went firm. "Relena, I have to tell you. I'm not here as your friend."

Her gentle eyes, filled with motherly affection, met his. Confusion seeped in a little.

"I'm here with work to do. Quatre, Trowa, and I – we started a foundation for helping people in Japan. People like you." He deliberately did not say 'former prostitutes.' "Now, I have to admit, I found it more than strange when we got the report about you and Howard coming to Morocco. But we've known about Derek for a few months, and now…" He hesitated. There didn't seem to be a way to put what he needed to tell her that would lessen the shock. "Heero knows about you two as well."

Relena's eyes widened, and she pressed a fist to her stomach in nervousness. "Please," she whispered urgently, "just tell me something, Wufei. Are you – am I… Can we go to the States now? For two months we sailed on a wretched boat, scared the whole time. But I thought of that place, New York, that he told me about, and we made it here all right somehow." Her smile came, but it was sad. "I have to see Heero, Wufei. I have to go to my husband."

The words cut him like an army dagger, but Wufei struggled on. "You don't even have to travel to New York," he muttered around a lump in his throat. "I just flew in this morning. Heero and—" He stopped. He couldn't bring himself to say 'Catherine.' Not yet. "Heero and I," he said, "came together."

Her reaction took a second, but it wasn't unexpected. "He's…he's here?!" she gasped. "Oh—oh, Wufei, this isn't a dream, is it? Derek!" Hysterical, she almost woke the boy, but instead ran to Wufei, throwing her arms around him. "I knew it! I knew I would see him again, and I knew there was a chance for us!"

"Relena," Wufei attempted.

"Those two months…it nearly killed me, Wufei, but I lived. I lived for Derek and for Heero. Oh, God! It was so hard to keep faith, but _now_…"

"Let me finish talking, please!" he asked, desperate. "When you two met, it was three whole years ago... Things have changed, Relena." But she could barely hear him, if she did at all. She was kissing both his cheeks and embracing him so thankfully.

_I can't tell her like this_, he thought frantically. _I can't do this to her. I don't have the strength. It should be Heero; he should come see his son, and then tell her the truth. From his own words._ At a loss, he could only hug her in return.

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Please review!


	12. Walls In My Heart Closing In

After this, there is only one more chapter left to this fic! This is also the big, pivotal chapter you all have been dying to get. So please put down your pitchforks and torches and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, Madame Butterfly, or Miss Saigon and am making no profit from this fan story.

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter 12

By Gundam Girl

"I came to let you know we were here," Wufei lied quickly after she had regained enough composure to actually hear his words. "What I'm going to do is go to the hotel Heero and I are at and bring him back here. Then you can see him."

The very idea of being able to look her husband in the eyes, being able to touch him was almost too much for Relena. "I can't possibly thank you enough," she told him desperately.

Wufei fought to keep his expression from looking guilty. "Thanking me isn't necessary. Just wait here for a little while. I'll hurry, I promise." He could do nothing else, he thought as he hastened from the room, leaving Relena to smile at the boy that still slept carelessly on the rugged bed.

"Oh, Derek," she murmured, sitting beside him once more and brushing her fingers over his thin little arm. "I told you it would happen, didn't I? I promised that you'd meet your father." She was just so happy that she could keep that promise.

Nothing mattered to her anymore but the son she had kept safe and the man that had helped create him. Treize was a memory, a thing of the past. Morocco would soon be only a place she had lived in for a little while. America would be their home, and Derek would go to school, and play with children, while Heero worked and Relena kept the house straight – they would have the life she had always dreamed of having. With her husband and her son.

With a smile, she stared out the tiny window of her room, the light from it orangey gold as it gleamed over the warped wood floor and told her the day was drawing to a close. By the time it came again, Relena thought, she would begin a whole new life, a fresh new start.

Howard, who thundered into the room with heaving breath, jerked her from her dreamy state. His eyes couldn't be seen from behind his dark sunglasses, but she saw that his forehead was crinkled with worried lines.

"What have you done!" he cried, rushing to her and grabbing her by the wrist. "What on earth have you done!"

Baffled, Relena stood and wrenched away from the old man. "What do you mean?" she retorted irritably. "Wufei was in here, he just left to—"

"Exactly!" Howard growled, sounded impressively dangerous for such a skinny, elderly person. "He's left! And you just let him walk out. Whatever he fed you, some story about Yuy, you ate it from his palm. What if he's off to leave and go back to the States with a mind to strand us here!"

"He isn't!" exclaimed Relena, alarmed by the notion. "He just went to the hotel to get Heero. He and Heero are going to come back here and—"

"The hell they are!" spat Howard. "He's a ghost from three years ago. Just because his face is familiar and his words are kind doesn't mean you can trust a ghost! Now," he said, voice slightly calmer as he pressed a hand to her shoulder and led her to the stairs. "Follow him. You said he went to the hotel? Then that's our best bet. He may have no motive to lie, but there's no reason for us to just drink in anything he says. If he's screwing with us, make sure you call him on it."

Relena felt sick at the thought. Wufei wouldn't have made this up. He wouldn't have lied.

"Don't worry for your son," Howard added. "I'll keep a close watch on him for you. But don't lose his only chance for a good life, Relena. Now go!"

She half-stumbled out of the shack, pale and perspiring in the blazing dusk sun. Why would Howard be suddenly so suspicious? _He's just frightened. We're all frightened_, she told herself.

Halfway to the nearby hotel, she stopped and braced a hand on a residential fence, gaining back her breath and her clear head. Inhaling deeply, she thought of the past – the good memories of Heero, and then she thought of the future – the memories they were sure to make together.

The smile came back to her face. What did Howard truly know of the human heart? What did he know of love? Nothing. He knew of money, though, and he knew of survival, so she had to be thankful towards him for that at least.

With a much lighter soul, she continued on her way towards the hotel, a hand close to her face to shield her eyes from the strong glare of the sun.

If she had lowered her hand, she would have seen Wufei leading Heero toward the shack, and she would have seen the anxiousness on Yuy's face.

There were only two rooms being occupied in the entire ten-room hotel, and one of those was used by the hotel owner himself. When Relena asked for the number of the other room, the owner had leered at her.

"Number two. But you could always come to number one," he'd slurred, "and put your good talents to some user there, eh?"

Relena hadn't so much as looked him in the eye before striding off towards the used room that was not number one. She thought again of how wonderful it would be once they were out of this sand pit.

In front of the door, she suddenly grew extremely self-conscious. Although Heero had told her numerous times that he found her prettier than any American girl he'd known, she still tried in vain to straighten her hair by finger-combing it.

With a small sigh, she relented and raised a hand. With just a moment hesitance, she knocked clearly three times.

It took a second, but there were footsteps that grew louder as the person making them neared. There was a clicking sound as the door unlocked and sliding noise as it was unbolted. When the panel swung in, it was held open only a few inches, as the chain had been left on.

A woman's eyes peered out, shining silver with a shrewd gleam to them. Obviously, she had no intention of being taken by surprise. "Yes?" she asked in a sure, audible voice.

Relena felt far less certain of herself. "Good evening," she said quietly.

The woman replied smoothly, "There's no need for you to turn down the beds, we'll see to it ourselves."

Puzzled, Relena suddenly understood. "Oh, I'm not the maid," she informed her quickly. "I'm…"

The woman appeared befuddled as Relena searched for words, rubbing her hands nervously. "What do you want?" she asked carefully.

"I'm looking for Heero Yuy," Relena told her. "Perhaps they gave me the wrong room number? I was told this was the only room being rented, but I'm sorry to intrude…" She then saw the recognition on the other woman's face. "Unless…oh, of course! You're Wufei's wife, yes?" She found it difficult to believe that Wufei had left the woman named Sally that Heero had told her about. Heero had said, despite his outward coolness, Wufei cared very deeply for a nurse who lived in New York.

The woman's eyes were wide, and her cheeks were as pale and Relena's had been just minutes ago. "Oh my God," she murmured. "Oh, Lord in… I see. This… This just _had _to happen, didn't it? Just a moment." Her voice was shaky on the last few syllables.

The door closed and there was a metallic released sound. Then the door opened again, this time all the way. The woman stood there with her hand on the knob, tall, with auburn hair and a fretful expression.

"You must be… Of course you are, you're Relena. Aren't you?" she asked.

Relena could only nod, negatively affected by this woman's apparent unease.

"Well, Heero… He left with Wufei to find you. Not even five minutes ago. You must have just passed them. Why did you come? Why did… Never mind. Please come inside." She stepped to the side and urged Relena in with an outstretched hand. Dutifully, Relena entered the small rented room.

"I won't hurt you," she added quickly, shutting the door behind them, as if it were of the utmost importance that she made it known. "I'm not married to Wufei. I'm…Heero's wife," she ended on a sigh, a sound of complete exhaustion. "My name is Catherine. Catherine Bloom-Yuy. I'm Trowa Barton's half-sister."

Relena hadn't heard a word past "Heero's wife." When she noticed that Catherine had stopped speaking, her head slowly started to shake. It wasn't true; there was no possible way for it to be true. "Tell me you're lying," she whispered, breathing shallow as she spoke.

Catherine sunk down on one of the two poorly-made beds. Relena continued to stand, rigid and straight as a board. "I can't. I'm sorry." But why was she sorry? "It's the truth. Heero and I, we've been married for two years."

Relena was staring hard in her direction, but it didn't seem to Heero's wife that she was really looking at her. "He told me… He promised me to take me."

"He said he tried to reach you," Catherine replied uncertainly. "But he couldn't. He tried for a whole year—"

Relena cut in passionately, "Please! Tell me you're not married! You don't understand – You can't know what I've done to get this far, get this close to him!"

"And you don't know how much he needed to start over," returned Catherine. "He was like a ghost when I met him, like a man without any real life inside of him. I changed that, I healed him."

The words hurt. They cut Relena directly in the heart, and she bled through to her soul. She felt like there were walls inside her, closing in around her, cutting off air, cutting off life… "I can't win, can I?" she whispered.

Catherine's lower lip began to tremble, but she forced herself to be composed. "Wufei told us of the child; he said it was Heero's…?"

"Yes, ma'am," Relena said quickly, almost snapping out the words. "My son is Heero's son."

Catherine felt her hands clench of an accord that she wished wasn't her own. "Well, of course…you know, we'll help with him."

"I don't need any pity," the blond woman bit out, her voice laced with spite. "Please keep yours."

"It isn't _charity_," insisted Catherine. "It's our duty as—" She nearly said Americans, but decided the word was wrong for the situation. "As human beings. I hope your son will be all right, I really do."

"Do you?" Relena demanded. "Do you really? Because I had a hope for him, too. A dream, that he would grow up differently from how I grew up, that he was actually _belong _somewhere!"

"We're not rich," Catherine said gently, trying to step away from the idea of belonging, "but we'll do what we can. I'm positive Heero and I feel the same way about that."

Relena exhaled, her eyes dangerously focused, as she shook her head at Catherine. "Then you understand. You understand that…" She squeezed her shut a moment, then opened them again. "You must take Derek with you."

Catherine stood up in surprise. Relena took a step back. "Take your child from you?" she repeated. "Oh, but that's impossible, Relena!"

"You will," Relena assured her. "That's the only way he'll get I want him to have."

"But Relena, he needs you, and… And also, Heero's married to _me_ now. We want our own kids." _We just haven't had any yet_, Catherine thought achingly.

"I know why you say you can't take Derek. I know why," Relena repeated, "and I don't care. You can tell me anything you want; you can tell me Heero doesn't love me anymore, or that he doesn't love my son." She trembled violently as she met Catherine's eyes. "But not a word will matter coming from you. Let me hear it from him! Tell him to come and tell it to my face!"

With that, she pushed away from the wall she had pressed against and whipped open the door.

"Relena!" Catherine called. But the mother dashed out of the room with more speed than the American woman could ever hope to possess. _Dear God_, she thought, lowering back down to the bed. _What did I do? I didn't want this._

She hadn't come to Morocco to meet a young woman who claimed she loved the man she was married to; she certainly hadn't come to fight with the woman. She'd come with Heero and Wufei to be support to her tortured spouse. But so far it seemed she'd done a poor job of it. Heero had been in a right state leaving the hotel. Nothing Catherine had said had been able to calm him in the slightest.

And now, Relena… What had she bungled, speaking with her? Arguing with her? She wanted to give up her _son_ to them though! What an idea that was, to just take a child that wasn't hers? How could anyone in their right mind ask another to do that?

But perhaps Relena wasn't necessarily in her right mind. After all she had been through, Catherine couldn't really expect her to be. Her blue eyes had reflected true horror, something most people Catherine knew had never realized. And her voice had reflected true torture, something most people never really knew.

She didn't want to be someone responsible for causing that. And Heero would need to go back and see his son.

But if he did, Relena would be there. She would be there with him and…awaken all sorts of memories and feelings that, like any woman, Catherine didn't really want him remembering or feeling.

But what else could she do? It wasn't, she told herself sternly, as though Heero would up and leave her for Relena and the child they'd made between them.

Would he?

She'd no sooner finished the thought than Heero and Wufei burst into the room, both faces full of frustration.

"We couldn't find Relena anywhere!" exclaimed Heero. "Just that old bastard, Howard."

"She was _right there_," insisted Wufei, probably not for the first time. He received a Yuy glare.

Catherine stood up from the bed and made an act of smoothing the front of her skirt. "Don't worry," she told them both. "Relena didn't go anywhere. She was here."

"She was…_here_?" echoed Heero, his eyes wide with disbelief. "But we would've seen her, wouldn't we've?"

"She knows this place a bit better than us," Wufei said. "What on earth was she doing here?"

"Looking for you," Catherine said, looking at her husband. "And the one who had to tell her it all, was me."

One chapter left to go! Review please!


	13. Come So Far

Well, I've finally made it. It's been two years, but it's finally come to the end. And while I still wish Maxine had been able to write this fic with me, it's enough that she kept coming back to read and give her point of view. Thanks, Max! (She's given her soul to the Harry Potter fandom as a Draco/Harry shipper. Remembering the old days of when she wrote only het GW, I can't help but be amused. It's a bit funny to think it's been so long!)

Well, I'll stop reminiscing now and say one more thing. To everyone who has offered feedback for this fic, I can only say THANK YOU for how helpful it was. I appreciate it enormously. From when I started writing this story to now, I've been told I've improved greatly. (Read the begging chapters of this and then go check out "Ice Hot." It's REALLY obvious there.)

So, from the author to her readers, thanks again. And enjoy the last chapter.

Love Beyond All Fear – Chapter 13

By Gundam Girl

Relena's room was lit by only a candle, dripping wax onto the half-broken table it sat on, casting a dim glow over her pale, tear-stained face. Derek was awake now, playing with two slabs of wood like another child would play with pan lids.

The sight tormented her heart, even though he was smiling up at her on occasion. She smiled back each time, though it never reached her eyes once.

How could she ever fully smile again with the truth bleeding into her heart? The truth that Heero had married another woman, forgotten her after leaving her in Japan after saying all of those things and making all of those promises.

But Relena had made a promise also. _A promise to my son._She passed a hand over the dark-haired head of her child, watching those all-seeing Prussian blue eyes.

She wouldn't abandon that promise. She would keep her word.

Heero may have forgotten her, but he would _not _forget that Derek was a part of him. And Derek would most certainly know his father.

No matter what it took.

o0o

Heero's blood had quite simply stopped flowing. He felt absolutely nothing at all. Numbly, he managed to open his mouth and voice, very quietly, "You told Relena…about us?"

The way he said "us" made Catherine's stomach drop. "Of course I did," she said, slightly sharp. Heero's eyes on her made her feel a sudden unexpected guilt.

_"Why do I feel guilty?" _Catherine demanded to herself. "_What I did was perfectly justified!" _Anger quickly welled inside her again.

"Oh, God," Wufei moaned, punching the wall closest to him. "This is my fault. I knew we were gone for longer than we should have. We must have just missed her! I _told _her to—"

"No," Catherine interrupted him, "I think I needed to meet her. There were just a few things you left out in your story," she said to Heero coolly. "Your _wife _wants you to come meet her tonight. I'm quite sure she'll be there this time."

Heero inhaled sharply, feeling desperate at her words sunk in. "That isn't… Lord, that's not how it was, Cathy! We didn't actually marry, but I did promise her—"

"There's no difference to her," Wufei told him. "Remember where she grew up."

"You don't have to explain," Catherine said harshly. "I doubt there's anything you can really even say, anyway. She wanted us to take her _child_, Heero! Her child! It was like she went insane!"

Wufei shook his head dejectedly, dark eyes narrowed in thought. "She wants her son to grow up as an American…"

"Can't you see what she's thinking?" Catherine went on, setting a hand on her husband's arm. "Relena still believes you want to marry her! She feels like you _did _marry her on words alone. You have to tell her…" She swallowed, fighting the tears that wanted to escape. "You must tell her that isn't what happened. And it has to be _you_. She won't accept it from anyone else." She suddenly stiffened. "Of course…it only applies if that's the truth."

Taken aback, Heero felt anger top the desperation for a few moments. "Damn it, Catherine, don't _doubt _me now!" He covered her hand with his own, and his grip was tight. "_You're _my wife. There were so many men who came back from that war without anything that made up a real life. I was one of them…" He met her eyes, and his tone gentled. "And then I found you."

Catherine's hand shook beneath his. "You can tell me that," she whispered. "You can say all of that, Heero… But she's the one who gave you a child. She bore you a son. When you dreamed of the war, the person you cried out for wasn't me, it was Relena." She felt Heero jerk, but she gripped his shoulders with both hands and moved in, pressing her cheek to his chest. "It's been two years since we were married, and you've never spoken to me of the war before recently – not once." Her eyes lifted to his and she smoothed a palm over his hair. "Tell the truth," she murmured. "Make a choice. Do you want her or me?"

For several seconds, Heero could only stare at her. The room was silent, and no one moved. Wufei watched them calculatingly, while Catherine held her breath. Then finally…

"Listen to what it was like back then," Heero said lowly. "Back when I was a different man. Back when I had no idea who I was or who I wanted to be. I had my feelings…all of us did…and no one knew them but me. I couldn't risk letting them out.

"But then I met her…and she was so young and so lonely and afraid. She was the only good thing about that whole place, Cathy. Like an angel in hell. The war was in shambles, and then, in her, I finally found what it was I wanted. Japan was a crazy dream, barely there in my mind…but she was real. And, like never before, I could feel true things. I saw the world in such a different way, and the way she was to me, I felt the same pain she did. And in spite of everything, the low chances of staying with her, I began to believe in her. I _needed _to believe in her. And she _loved _me. _Me_.

"So I wanted to save her. I had to protect her, like it was just something I couldn't live without doing. And, good God, I'm American! It's what Americans do, isn't it! But I failed…how could I fail, was what I thought for a whole year. I lost her, she was _dead_. I felt like I had killed her! Killed the only girl who'd ever loved me, who I'd started to love back!" He was pale, and with the flow of raw emotion he was letting run, perspiration shone on his face. His whole body trembled.

"But, really…in the end of it all…the end of her, all I wanted was home. And home wasn't Japan, it was here." He brushed some strands of auburn hair away from Catherine's face. "With you. Because when I met you, and you started loving me, it was like you filled up what losing Relena had done to me. My life began again with you." He shook his head, miserable. "I should have told you, Cathy. How could ever trust me after—"

Catherine kissed him, this time letting the tears fall freely down her face. "Oh, Heero, I love you. I do. And I don't doubt anything you've said, except for one thing." She cradled him against her, his chin on the crown of her head. "It didn't end, dear. Relena hasn't ended for you. You have to see her."

Heero held his wife tighter. "You're right."

Wufei cleared his throat, and the couple broke apart. "There's still the issue of Derek, the son. It's terrific you guys have each other, but the kid exists too. He's yours, Heero. And if what Cathy said is true, Relena wants you to take responsibility for him."

"I know," Heero murmured, "and I'm still confused. Christ, Wufei, Relena's there too. What could I possibly do for her now?"

Wufei frowned, avoiding the question. He didn't rightly know. "There are shelters being built in the States for children like him, kids who aren't ever going to find their fathers. There's no difficult choice to be made here. Do you want to put him in a home or take him to yours?"

"If it was just Derek," sighed Catherine, "I'd take him, of course. He's your son." It would hurt, Catherine admitted to herself, but she would accept it. "It would work out. But Relena – Heero, I don't think I'm strong enough to have her near us like that…"

"No." Heero didn't think he was strong enough for that either. "I think the answer's fairly clear, Wufei. They could come to New York, say, in Brooklyn. We could support them there."

"Listen, Heero, you didn't see Relena. When I spoke of you to her, it was like she came back from the dead." And the thought still sent chills through the Chinese man's veins.

"Then the most I can do for her is to keep her and my son alive," Heero replied.

"Relena's smart," chimed in Catherine. "I think she'll eventually understand."

Doubtful, Wufei stuck his hands in his pockets. "I just don't know. Her heart is sore, the kid is young."

"He'll get an American education. We'll provide what they need," Heero went on. "They can start new lives there. Isn't that what the whole American Dream is about?"

"You're talking like a fool," Wufei grunted.

"It'll work out," insisted Catherine.

"So it's done," Heero said, sounding certain – mostly.

Wufei watched both of them for a minute. "So this is your decision."

"I think it's the best one."

"Fine," he said, turning towards the door. "Both of you can come with me then. We'll fly back early in the morning."

o0o

"Relena." Howard stood in the doorway of her room, sunglasses low on his nose so he could peer over them at her. "You look horrible. Is there anything I can do for you?" Of course there wasn't, but he'd basically used the woman and her son for his own purposes. At least he could offer his help and pretend to mean it.

That Yuy was a bastard. When Relena had returned in the state she was in, he had been able to guess the situation. When Howard talked to him, Heero had said he'd married again; a woman named Catherine. Ugly name, Howard thought. Probably an ugly woman.

As for Relena, whose name and face were both not ugly, she didn't deserve this. Howard might have been through hell, but Relena had been through worse. Odd, he thought to himself. He'd never have said that before now.

Relena turned to him and gave him the most pathetic smile he'd ever seen. "No, Howard, thank you. I would like to be alone with my son."

Howard felt something inside of him rip. "Sure," he said softly. "I won't let anyone bother you." He closed the door on his way out.

Relena walked to the small, dusty window. The only thing worth looking at in this town was the sky, but even the stars seemed dimmer tonight. The moon shone yellow, proving just enough light to see the outlines of things in the room. She turned back away from the glass and looked at her son, pride swelling. Derek wasn't afraid on the dark.

She had dressed him in his lesser-worn clothes. They were still close to being rags, but they were nicer than the others. She had tried to comb his hairs with her fingers, but it was as unruly as his father's. Her heart clenched tighter at the thought.

"You are such a good son, Derek," she murmured, pulling him tightly against her. "Give mother a hug, okay?"

Derek did so, kissing her on the cheek as well. Relena had to will herself not to cry. Crying only scared the boy.

"Let me tell you a story," Relena said, letting Derek sit in her lap. "My brother told me this story when I was your age. There was once a kind of bird called a phoenix. There aren't any anymore, but it was a very special bird. It was large and colorful and it always protected whatever it loved. The bird lived for a very long time, and when it finally died, it didn't die like other birds. It died by bursting into flame until it had made itself nothing but ashes."

"It died?" Derek whispered, his voice broken and not fully developed.

"Yes," Relena nodded. "But see, it didn't really die. Because every time in became ashes, it was born again _from _the ashes. So it lived forever, restarting over and over again."

She stood up, taking him into her arms and brought him by the window, nearer to the pale light. "I found out something tonight, my son. I've been looking for your father for me and you – both of us. But I know now that he can't be with both of us. I knew him and had his love once." She kissed his forehead even as the tears sparkled in her eyes. "I think this time it's your turn. I won't ever be far from you; please remember that. I will always love you. Could you try to remember me even if I have to go away?"

Derek nodded solemnly, wrapping his little arms around her neck.

Relena set him on the floor, keeping his small hand in one of hers. "After tonight, Derek, you'll be with your father. After I'm gone, you must give all of your love to him. Look at me very closely." The round face peered up at her, his eyes wide. "Don't forget how I look. Because now, you must keep on living – for me." She bent down and gave him one more kiss. "Now stay here by the window," she ordered softly, "and no matter what you hear, you mustn't move. Sit down."

Derek obediently sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

Relena forced herself to smile as real a smile as she could muster. He _was _a good son. He would be to Heero as well.

She stepped backward, turning away from him and moving to the bed. She wrapped the bed-curtains around it so that she was blocked from Derek's view.

And she took a deep breath.

o0o

"That last person," Howard said dangerously from the front of the hotel, "who is going to see Relena now is _you_."

"We have business," Heero replied.

Howard snapped back. "I gave you yours three years ago. Don't you remember, in Fair View?"

"That's enough," Wufei said. "Do you want those two to go to America or not, Howard?"

"I want all three of us to go there," Howard shot back. "But not with Yuy. I highly doubt she wants to see him."

"You're wrong," spoke up Catherine. "She told me herself that she did."

Well, Howard thought, he'd been wrong about something if not that. Catherine wasn't ugly. And that had probably just been another wound to Relena. "Then I'm going to stop you anyway. I won't let her hurt herself like you hurt her."

Heero's fists clenched, then slackened. "I'm trying to make up for this, Howard. And if you try to stop me, I'll remove you myself. Some things I can't fix," he cast a look at Catherine, "but what I can, I will."

And then they heard a sound that stopped their hearts and chilled their blood: a single gunshot.

Heero, Catherine, Wufei and Howard all froze, the only sound being the wind that rushed past their ears and their own heartbeats pounding in their throats.

Howard's sunglasses fell off. "The top floor."

"But that's where…" Wufei swallowed.

"Oh my God," Catherine whispered.

Heero wasn't nearly as quiet. "**_RELENA_**!" Shoving past Howard, he was on the stairs in an instant, thundering upward with Catherine, Wufei, and Howard right behind him.

He burst through the door, the wooden panel nearly falling off. He registered the sound of a startled child crying softly, but the first thing he really noticed was the enclosed bed…and the blood leaking out from under it. "Relena?" he gasped.

He rushed to the bed and pulled back the drapes…to see Relena lying on the bed, eyes closed, blood gushing darkly from a bullet wound in the stomach, and her hand spread near her head. He recognized the gun lying in the palm as his own…the one he'd given her three years ago.

"Oh…God." He swallowed, shaking, and he slowly lowered himself onto the bed beside her. Behind him, Wufei and Catherine were tending to the crying boy. His son, he realized. Derek. "Relena…" He passed his knuckled over her cheek. It was pale and cool. Too cool. "Why did you… Why?"

Relena blinked rapidly, staring up at him. It was the first time she'd seen him in three years; the only thing she'd wanted to see. "You've been guided to your son, Heero. I just helped a little."

He shook his head, denial setting in like a ghost as tears streaked down. One fell onto her neck. "Please, Relena… _Please _don't die."

Her lips parted and she smiled a little; suddenly, she felt so careless. Maybe she could smile truly again after all. Slowly, she lifted a hand and eased it across his rough cheek, luxuriant with the feel of it again. The coldness of her fingers made a sob rip from Heero's throat. Her own tears heated her eyes.

"Please," she echoed him, "Heero…" Saying his name to him was like living again…like the phoenix… "Hold me. Just one more time."

_Oh, God_… His only image of her had been as she had seemed to him in Japan. As though she were an angel sent directly to him from heaven, to sooth him, to heal him. And in return for all she had done, he'd caused her pain. Caused her to cause herself pain. Now, she still looked like an angel, but one that was ill and had been for a very long time. Obligingly, he wrapped his arms around her and drew her thin and fragile body against him. To think that this delicate creature had brought life into the world…life created by the two of them together. "Relena," he murmured. "Our son…please know that I'll love him the same way I…" _Loved you._He couldn't bring himself to say that to her.

But Relena knew. Her eyes glowed with more than just her tears. Blood continued to drip away from her, and she was growing pale and colder. Howard had gone for a doctor minutes ago, but… "I never," she gasped out, her breath raking through her throat, "stopped loving you." Her eyes drifted shut, dark eyelashes standing out on her white cheeks. Her head fell back over his arm, golden hair spreading across the bloodstained bed. She gave a small shudder.

And then she was gone.

Heero trembled, still holding her to him, wanting her to stay, wishing… But no one can wish away death. As he laid her down on the mattress, he leaned over her and touched his lips to hers. Her lips had told her love even as death had come to her. And what had he done…?

It didn't matter, Heero told himself. Trembling, he slid off the bed to the floor, unable to stand. His eyes flashed in the dim light as he turned his head to look at the child huddled in Catherine's arms by the window. The boy looked almost identical to him, but the soul behind the Prussian blue eyes was Relena's. Heero could feel her inside of him.

_He will be whoever he wants to be_, Heero vowed silently. _Exactly what you wanted, Relena._

On unsteady legs, he walked across the room to Catherine and the child. Catherine backed away. The boy had stopped crying and now looked at Heero was dry, curious eyes. And then he spoke the word Relena had taught him:

"Father."

Heero broke; he fell to his knees in front of the smaller version of himself. Spreading his arms, he embraced his child for the first time.

And could have sworn he felt Relena embracing both of them.

_Fini_

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Well, there you have it. I was actually going to post this last night, but considering the material, I doubted the appropriateness on Mother's Day.

Many thanks to all who have been here from the beginning. I hope I didn't anger too many of you. And if you want to put down your torches and pitchforks and make a final review for this fic, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again. Hopefully I will see you in some of my other fics.

Love,

GG


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